The first hospital group in Turkey to offer cancer patients advanced RapidArc™ radiotherapy treatments has acquired four additional treatment machines from Varian Medical Systems. Acibadem Healthcare Group, based in Istanbul, has expanded its radiotherapy facilities in Turkey from three to five with new centres 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 tumours.
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 tumour movement during treatment delivery, and, with less time on the treatment couch, also allow for greater patient comfort.
Dr Enis Özyar, 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. 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 centres 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 standardising treatment protocols and plans.”
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.”
