A patient at Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Cancer Care Center in Negrar-Verona, Italy has become the first person to undergo Varian Medical Systems’ HyperArc High-Definition Radiotherapy.
The treatment is a new form of radiotherapy that targets and delivers more compact doses of radiation to tumors while reducing inflicted damage to healthy tissue.
It is composed of Varian’s TrueBeam and Edge treatment platforms, which use non-coplanar beams and deliver compact radiation doses to match the size and shape of the tumor, while targeting its location. The doses engulf the tumor while dispersing sharply outside the target zone, thereby reducing or in some cases, eliminating exposure to surrounding organs and tissue.
Though it is not the next generation of Varian’s RapidArc Radiotherapy Technology, HyperArc is designed to increase its efficiency.
“HyperArc is a solution to streamline and automate non-coplanar RapidArc treatments,” a spokesperson for Varian Medical Systems told HCB News. “HyperArc is designed to capitalize on the unique capabilities of Varian's TrueBeam and EDGE treatment platforms.”
The technology behind the treatment was first unveiled at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). The intent is to use HyperArc as a mechanism for treating brain tumors and vertebratal mestastases.
Doctors in Italy will continue using the treatment to track and manage the progress of the patient, who suffers from a complex case of multiple intracranial metastases.
“HyperArc will enable clinics to more easily adopt highly non-coplanar treatment strategies in the delivery of stereotactic radiosurgery while significantly reducing the time required to plan and to deliver such treatments,” the spokesperson told HCB News.
Varian’s Eclipse treatment planning software supports the treatment, which is available in markets in the U.S. and Europe.
