Radiation therapy device manufacturer Varian Medical Systems will showcase its Smart Segmentation software, a radiotherapy treatment planning tool, at the annual American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) meeting in Minneapolis next week. Varian said that the application is designed to reduce the time needed to create treatment plans for treatments such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT).

According to the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Varian, the application is an automatic tool that uses intelligent software to identify and outline, within diagnostic images, organs and other structures to be irradiated or protected during treatment. The first version of the Smart Segmentation tool performs automatic contouring of tumors and surrounding anatomy in the thorax and in the male pelvis. Additional anatomical sites will be added in the near future, the company said.

In addition to the Smart Segmentation tool, Varian will also exhibit other new software products and features at the AAPM meeting including beam angle optimization, a treatment planning tool that automates the process of choosing the beam angles to use when administering radiation from different directions to converge on the targeted tumor.

The vendor will also demonstrate enhancements to its Aria oncology information system that improve the integration between medical and radiation oncology treatment information and support more flexible data gathering.

Varian said it has modified the system so that medical and radiation oncology treatment information appears on the same assessment screens, providing clinicians with a more comprehensive look at a patient's complete treatment history. Also, new customizable data-collection forms are provided that enables treatment centers to capture and aggregate data about treatments and side effects in order to identify trends and improve treatment quality.