Leading Turkish Hospital Group Selects Varian Equipment for Major Expansion

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The first hospital group in Turkey to offer cancer patients advanced RapidArc™ radiotherapy treatments has acquired four additional treatment machines from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR). Acibadem Healthcare Group, based in Istanbul, has expanded its radiotherapy facilities in Turkey from three to five with new centers in Adana and Kayseri.

RapidArc treatments have commenced at Acibadem's Maslak Hospital in Istanbul, enabling the hospital to extend more advanced care to more patients. Doctors at Maslak are using the technology to carry out image-guided IMRT (intensity modulated radiotherapy) treatments on a range of tumors.

RapidArc delivers a precise and efficient treatment in single or multiple arcs of the medical linear accelerator around the patient and makes it possible to deliver image-guided IMRT two to eight times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT. Faster treatments allow for greater precision, since there is less chance of patient or tumor movement during treatment delivery and, with less time on the treatment couch, also allow for greater patient comfort.

Dr. Enis Ozyar, M.D., professor of radiation oncology with Acibadem Healthcare Group, said, "Our group continually invests in the latest technology and we seek to offer the most advanced cancer care in Turkey," said Dr. Ozyar. "We are delighted to be the first in the country to offer RapidArc treatments.

"Having departments equipped by Varian brings tremendous advantages to our group and our patients, because all our centers are integrated and connected and remote access is possible to all planning and patient information systems. It makes it easier for our professionals to deliver treatments by standardizing treatment protocols and plans."

Acibadem Healthcare Group established its first radiotherapy center in Turkey in 2005, siting two Varian Clinac® linear accelerators in Istanbul Kozyatagi Hospital. A second center equipped with two more Clinac accelerators was opened in Bursa in April last year, while the third – and largest – radiotherapy facility was established in at Istanbul's Maslak Hospital earlier this year, with a Trilogy® unit for radiosurgery and a Clinac accelerator with RapidArc capability, along with a VariSource® HDR (high dose rate) brachytherapy unit. Each site has a suite of Varian's ARIA™ oncology information management software and Eclipse™ treatment planning software.

The two new departments in Adana and Kayseri have just commenced treatments, matching Maslak with a Trilogy, a Clinac, a VariSource and full suites of software. With their new equipment and software, all five hospitals in the Acibadem Healthcare Group are able to offer IMRT and IGRT. The group placed orders for the new equipment and software in March.

"Acibadem Healthcare Group has quickly become one of our most significant customers in Europe, demonstrating a commitment to improving treatment excellence," says Michael Sandhu, head of Varian's Oncology Systems business in Europe. "We are delighted that Acibadem is ensuring that an increasing number of Turkish cancer patients will gain access to advanced radiotherapy treatments."

About Varian Medical Systems

Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, is the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy, and brachytherapy. The company supplies informatics software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical oncology practices. Varian is a premier supplier of tubes and digital detectors for X-ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications and also supplies X-ray imaging products for cargo screening and industrial inspection. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 5,100 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America, China, and Europe and in its 79 sales and support offices around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com/.