Fresno Doctors Use New Radiotherapy Treatment

Written by Business Journal staff
Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Doctors at Cancer Care Associates in Fresno have commenced treating cancer patients using RapidArc(TM) technology, a new advancement from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) that delivers accurate radiotherapy treatments very quickly. RapidArc treatments can be completed two to eight times faster than was possible with earlier forms of treatment.

Two patients battling advanced pituitary gland cancer and advanced lung cancer were among the first people to be treated with RapidArc at Cancer Care Associates.

"Our patient with pituitary gland cancer required a very tight, narrow margin of error because of the tumor's proximity to crucial structures like the optic nerve and the brainstem," said Dr. Jedidiah Monson, medical director of radiation oncology. "We made comparisons between a RapidArc IMRT plan and a conventional IMRT plan, and for both cases, RapidArc provided better sparing of healthy tissues, which is critical for achieving favorable clinical outcomes with fewer side effects."

RapidArc treatments are typically delivered five days a week over a period of several weeks. Once the patient is properly positioned, treatments that might have taken 20 minutes in the past can be completed in less than two minutes.

Monson points out that the speed of the daily RapidArc treatments has contributed to his patients' level of comfort. "Both patients felt anxious over whether they could endure a treatment that required them to lie still for a long period of time, and were grateful to learn that, with RapidArc, they wouldn't have to," he said.

RapidArc radiotherapy technology has now been used for the treatment of prostate, head and neck, lung, brain, spine, bone, gynecological, and soft tissue cancers. The American Cancer Society estimates that, in the United States this year, doctors will diagnose 1,437,180 new cancer cases; over 150,000 will occur in the state of California.