Varian Medical Systems

The Mayo Clinic defines radiation therapy as a type of cancer treatment that uses beams of intense energy to kill cancer cells, mostly getting its power from X-rays, but the power can also come from protons or other types of energy. Most often, it is in the form of external beam radiation therapy. In fact, according to the National Cancer Institute, more than half of all people with cancer receive radiation therapy as part of their treatment, making it one of the most common treatments for cancer.

The global proton therapy market hit a major milestone in 2015, eclipsing the billion-dollar mark for sales orders and more than doubling the previous year’s total, according to market intelligence firm Medraysintell. This boom was evidenced by new proton therapy centers springing up all over the world, including 11 just since November 2015 — eight in the United States and three abroad in Hong Kong, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Varian Medical Systems will be demonstrating its latest radiotherapy and radiosurgery technologies and software July 31 – August 3 in Washington, D.C., at the 2016 American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) show. The company will also be hosting a developer workshop July 29-30.

Treatment planning systems are at the heart of radiation therapy (RT) and the key to improved patient outcomes. Once image datasets are loaded and the tumors are identified, the systems develop a complex plan for each beam line route for how the therapy system will deliver radiation. 

Varian Medical Systems Inc. announced the release of new computer-aided engineering (CAE) software for simplifying the process of designing shielding and radiological protection systems.