Europe’s first TrueBeam STx with Novalis® Radiosurgery launched in Germany

Powerful new image-guided radiosurgery system offers diverse possibilities for non-invasive1 cancer treatment

Munich, June 6, 2011 – For the first time in Europe patients with difficult-to-treat cancers of the brain, spine and body will be able to receive advanced, powerful radiosurgery treatment with the new TrueBeamTM STx with Novalis® Radiosurgery.

The new non-invasive [1] treatment system offers more than double the radiation strength of the previous generation of technology, supplying a dose rate of up to 2,400 monitor units per minute, allowing clinicians to treat patients more quickly than before. The system combines the latest technologies for imaging, treatment planning, and delivery from two leading medical device manufacturers Varian and Brainlab to offer new and advanced possibilities in radiation treatment for patients.

Professor Anca Ligia Grosu, Medical Director for Radiation Medicine at the University Clinic Freiburg, Germany, where the new system is installed, comments:

“The technology from Varian and Brainlab provides us with a complete solution for the knifeless treatment of cancer using high precise radiosurgery. This allows us to minimize exposure to the surrounding healthy tissue. Average treatment time with TrueBeam STx with Novalis Radiosurgery is also shorter, being performed in just minutes, which means that treatment is also more comfortable for the patient.”

In radiosurgery benign and malignant tumors and other indications can often be treated with a high dose of radiation in just a single session. Most radiosurgery patients are treated as out-patients meaning a hospital stay is typically unnecessary and people can return to normal activity the very same day. Radiosurgery can also be a treatment option for when conventional surgery is considered too high risk, for example when tumors or lesions are located close to sensitive tissues of the brain or body.

The new radiosurgery system at the Freiburg clinic treats with power and accuracy by combining Varian’s latest high-energy linear accelerator with a micromulti-leaf collimator. The treatment system is able to rotate around the patient to deliver treatment from all angles. The computer-controlled 6D treatment couch can then move automatically in six different directions during treatment to help ensure the patient is precisely positioned throughout.

Also included within the system is treatment planning software that can enable medical experts, such as radiation oncologists, physicists, and neurosurgeons, to determine the best treatment for patients by sharing information with each other via a web-based network.

An innovative oncology information system collects all patient information into a single database that can be accessed anytime, from nearly any location.

The Freiburg clinic will use TrueBeam STx with Novalis Radiosurgery for non-invasive1 stereotactic cancer treatment in the brain and body, including spine, lung, liver, and prostate indications. “With this technology,” declared Professor Grosu, “we can open the door to new treatment approaches for tumors and other indications with non-invasive2 radiosurgery.”

[1] Some doctors may opt for a minimally invasive head frame for certain treatments.