First Asian Clinic to Treat Cancer Using TrueBeam?

 HONG KONG—The Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, one of the leading private hospitals in Hong Kong, with the motto "Quality in Service Excellence in Care", has become the first clinic in Asia to commence treating cancer using the TrueBeam? system from Varian Medical Systems. Clinicians used the system on September 28, 2011 for the palliative treatment of a metastatic bone lesion and again on October 6, 2011 to deliver an image-guided and intensity-modulated radiotherapy treatment for a patient battling head and neck cancer.
TrueBeam? was designed to treat tumors with increased speed and accuracy, including tumors that move during treatment as the patient breathes. It features several technical innovations that dynamically synchronize and integrate imaging, patient positioning, motion management, and treatment delivery during sophisticated treatments for cancer. With its High-Intensity Mode, TrueBeam? can accurately deliver high doses, more than twice as fast as earlier generations of technology. This makes it possible to significantly shorten treatments, potentially enabling clinics to treat more patients each day and to improve precision by leaving less time for tumor motion during dose delivery.
"The TrueBeam? system is Varian's most advanced offering for dealing with tumor motion, which makes it especially well suited for treating cancer of the lung and liver, two types that occur commonly in Asia. We are honored to work with the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, which is very much on the leading edge of cancer care, having adopted this modern technology for the benefit of cancer patients in Hong Kong," said Tom Duffy, head of Varian's Oncology Systems business in Asia.
"The TrueBeam? system improves on earlier generations of technology. It offers excellent 3D imaging capabilities so that we can target the tumor with great accuracy. Using this system, we will be able to quickly deliver high doses to the tumor while limiting exposure of the surrounding tissues and organs," said Wing-Hong Kwan, M.D., Director of the Department of Radiotherapy at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital. According to Dr. Kwan, two special capabilities of the TrueBeam? system stand out as particularly exciting: the ability to synchronize treatment with a patient's respiratory motion and the ability to generate real-time images during treatment. "These capabilities enable us to verify and confirm that we are accurately targeting the tumor throughout a course of treatment. They provide us with an added measure of accuracy," he said.
TrueBeam? was approved for sale in China by the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration earlier this year.

 Source: Varian Medical Systems (www.varian.com)