Cancer treatment specialists reported how new technologies are enabling them to provide faster, more accurate cancer treatments than was possible with earlier generations of radiotherapy technology. In presentations given at an "Emerging Technologies" Symposium sponsored by Varian Medical Systems in connection with the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO), doctors detailed how they are using RapidArc™ radiotherapy technology, as well as cone-beam CT (3-D) imaging to offer their patients highly-accurate and more comfortable cancer treatments.
The symposium presentations began with Clif Ling, PhD, a renowned expert in the fields of medical physics and radiation oncology. In his talk entitled "Affirming the past — anticipating the future — comments during the 50th Anniversary of ASTRO" he provided a history of the technological advances, many of which were provided by Varian, that have led to improved clinical outcomes and increased survival among cancer patients treated with radiotherapy.
