Varian Medical Systems Receives 510(k) clearance for fast and accurate Acuros Radiotherapy Treatment

Varian Medical Systems announced that it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for the Acuros capability offered initially in its brachytherapy treatment planning system. The Acuros clearance was awarded as part of the market-leading Eclipsetreatment planning system.

BrachyVision Acuros, recently introduced at the American Brachytherapy Society meeting in Toronto, Canada, enables superior dose calculation at unmatched speed. The system enables clinicians to rapidly calculate patient dose with an extremely high level of accuracy*.

Hosea Mitchell, head of Varian's brachytherapy business unit says, BrachyVision Acuros calculation times tend to average between three and eight minutes depending on the applicator used. By comparison, the same calculations could take hours or days using the standard Monte Carlo method.

Mitchell adds, Securing 510(k) clearance is an important milestone in making this exciting new planning system available to brachytherapy practitioners. Acuros represents a major step forward in terms of accuracy with timeframes that were previously thought unimaginable. It will help clinicians make better decisions about dose to their patients and further their knowledge to make treatments more accurate.

Varian is working exclusively with Transpire Inc., developers of Acuros, to bring the benefits of this fast and precise calculation method to the radiation oncology field. In so doing, Varian becomes the only brachytherapy supplier with this capability in a commercially available product.