General Hospital Vienna has successfully completed its first Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) treatment making it one of the first hospitals in the world to carry out the innovative cancer treatment option.
VMAT technology provides a simultaneous control of the linear accelerator gantry position and speed, the leaves and angle of the multileaf collimator and dose rate. The flexibility enables highly conformal cancer treatments, as well as optimal sparing of the healthy tissue around the target. In addition, VMAT significantly reduces patient treatment times, leading to greater patient comfort and stillness for a more efficient and precise treatment.Dietmar Georg, PhD, head of the Division of Medical Radiation Physics at General Hospital Vienna (Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria) said the first patient was treated for glioblastoma, a serious brain tumour that was positioned near vital structures such as the brain stem and optical lenses and nerves. The treatment consisted of three non-coplanar VMAT arcs with collimator rotation. The entire treatment took just 10 minutes, including creation and evaluation of the patient’s brain images and treatment positioning. “This therapy is applied in very complex situations where the localisation and form of the tumour requires tailored intensity modulated treatment,” says Dr Georg. General Hospital Vienna used its existing Elekta Synergy S system to perform the VMAT treatment, along with Elekta’s next generation linear accelerator control software. Elekta’s VMAT solution also includes ERGO++ treatment planning system for rotational therapy, and Mosaiq image-enabled oncology Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system. The complete VMAT solution is now available in upgrades to existing Elekta accelerators. General Hospital Vienna is the largest Radiotherapy centre in Austria, and treats approximately 3,000 Radiotherapy patients per year. The capability to perform VMAT offers a tremendous advantage for the hospital and its patients, said chief medical doctor professor Richard Potter. “The new system will revolutionise tailored intensity modulated Radiotherapy during the next decade. Very soon, not only head and neck lesions will be treated with VMAT, but also tumours in the lung, close to the cervical spine and in the pelvis.” “What I’ve seen so far is the possibility that we can, in the long term, treat more patients, because we have a more efficient workflow and much faster treatments,” said Dr Georg. “We are at the forefront of the leading radio-oncology hospitals in the world. VMAT will give us an enormous impetus both scientifically and in medical care.” Elekta Volumetric Intensity Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) is pending regulatory approvals in certain markets, including 510(k) clearance in the USA, and is not yet available for commercial sale in the USA.
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