Five patients with brain cancer became the first patients in the USA to be treated using the HyperArc High Definition Radiotherapy (Varian Medical Systems), a new type of radiosurgery treatment, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, USA. HyperArc has been designed to automate and simplify sophisticated treatments such as stereotactic radiosurgery and make them available to more cancer patients around the world.
“We have been doing preclinical and clinical development of single isocenter radiosurgery for a decade,” says John Fiveash, professor and vice chair for academic programmes in the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology. “Over the last five years, our radiosurgery plan quality has improved to equal or exceed our Gamma Knife. Physicians and patients preferred the frameless and highly efficient delivery on our TrueBeam and Edge systems and our Gamma Knife was decommissioned June 2017. HyperArc planning automates much of the radiosurgery treatment planning strategies that we have implemented at UAB and could enable more clinics to perform higher quality radiosurgery for more patients.”
According to a company release, HyperArc capitalises on the unique capabilities of Varian’s TrueBeam and EDGE treatment systems. HyperArc treatments allow clinicians the ability to deliver more compact radiation doses that closely conform to the size, shape, and location of tumours while sparing more surrounding healthy tissue. These advanced treatments can be delivered in a conventional treatment time slot. The treatment planning for HyperArc is supported by Varian’s Eclipse treatment planning software.
