Major Netherlands Radiotherapy Project Selects Five Linear Accelerators from Varian Medical Systems

TILBURG, Netherlands, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems has been selected to supply advanced radiotherapy equipment for a major project that will bring state-of-the-art radiotherapy treatments closer to hundreds of thousands of Dutch cancer patients.

The Tilburg-based Dr. Bernard Verbeeten Institute (BVI) placed an order with Varian in July to acquire five medical linear accelerators, which are used to deliver radiotherapy treatments. The new machines, which include a Trilogy(R) accelerator, the most advanced of its kind, will be situated at the institute's Tilburg headquarters and at two new satellite centres being constructed in the nearby cities of Breda and Den Bosch.

Jack Venselaar, medical physicist at the oncology clinic, says, "Both these cities have large populations but they have never had any radiotherapy facility in the city-based hospitals and patients have had to travel more than thirty kilometres to Tilburg. We want to support our patients by bringing radiotherapy closer to them, especially as treatments are fractionated and require multiple visits. Our institute is growing and it is time to build satellites for these cities and reduce travel times and costs."

A versatile Trilogy linear accelerator will be installed at the Tilburg site in December. A fully-accessorized Trilogy accelerator, equipped with Varian's On-Board Imager(R) for fast and effective image-guidance, is capable of offering all standard radiation therapies as well as the most advanced treatments such as intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) and whole-body stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). Each of the two new satellite clinics will be equipped with two Varian Clinac(R) iX accelerators.

Work will begin in early 2008 to construct new radiotherapy treatment rooms alongside the new hospital site in the city of Den Bosch and the existing hospital in Breda. Both new radiotherapy departments will remain part of the Dr. Bernard Verbeeten Institute and be independent of the adjacent hospitals. It is expected that by the summer of 2009, all machines will be installed and operating clinically.

BVI currently has six linear accelerators at Tilburg, some of which will be replaced as part of the project. "We wanted five new machines to take us into the future and it was evident after the tender process was completed that Varian would be the most attractive partner for us going forward," adds Jack Venselaar. He said the institute is aiming to become the third largest radiotherapy centre in the Netherlands, offering state-of-the-art treatments to the 1.2 million residents in the Noord-Brabant region.

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 4,400 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America and Europe and in its 56 sales and support offices around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com/.

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Editorial contact: Neil Madle, Varian Medical Systems, +44 7786 526068, neil.madle@varian.com BVI contact: Debbie van Beers, +31 13 5947 777, beers.v.d@bvi.nl, http://www.verbeeten.nl/