A private radiotherapy clinic in Europe's Nordic region has adopted RapidArc technology from Varian Medical Systems. Clinicians at Helsinki’s Docrates Clinic are using this form of radiotherapy to treat patients with multiple brain metastases and cancers of the brain and abdomen.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based Varian said that RapidArc enables clinicians to deliver image-guided intensity-modulated radiotherapy treatment in approximately two revolutions of the treatment machine around the patient. It has been delivered using two Varian Clinac iX linear accelerators.

“We have treated thirty prostate patients with RapidArc to date and it has achieved excellent dose coverage with low dose to nearby critical organs and healthy tissue,” says Timo Kiljunen, medical physicist. “RapidArc is used routinely where pelvic lymph nodes are treated simultaneously with lower daily dose than the prostate and we also use it for metastatic and primary cancers in the abdominal region, such as liver and pancreatic cancers.”