Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) today announced that it has been selected to equip and service the new multi-room HollandPTC in Delft with the Varian ProBeam® proton therapy system. The company will book the equipment part of the order in its fiscal 2015 third quarter.
HollandPTC is a key part of Medical Delta, the medical-technological collaboration of the universities and university medical centers of Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam. When completed, the center will feature two proton therapy treatment rooms with full rotational gantries as well as facilities for fixed-beam eye treatments and research. Equipment installation is expected to take place in mid-2016, with patient treatments expected to begin in the second half of 2017.
"We are pleased to be selected to supply our ProBeam system for this prestigious project," said Moataz Karmalawy, managing director of Varian's particle therapy business. "As well as offering pencil-beam scanning, the most advanced form of proton therapy, HollandPTC will be a key research site feeding into a national program to study the efficacy of protons."
Varian's ProBeam system with Dynamic Peak™ Scanning is uniquely capable of high-speed intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) which is the most precise form of proton therapy available.
Proton therapy makes it possible to treat certain types of cancer more precisely and with potentially fewer side effects than is possible with conventional radiation therapy. With proton therapy, the risk of damage to healthy tissues and potential side effects is reduced because the beam is designed to stop and deposit dose within the tumor site rather than passing all the way through the patient. Proton therapy can be used for many of the most common types of cancer.
Varian's ProBeam technology is being used to treat patients at the Scripps Proton Therapy Center in San Diego, the Rinecker Proton Therapy Center in Munich, and at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. Varian also has contracts for system installations at eight other sites around the world.
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