PALO ALTO, Calif., July 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- RapidArc® Radiosurgery can be used to deliver treatments for multiple brain metastases that are substantially less time consuming and comparable in quality to Gamma Knife® (GK) treatments, according to a new research study recently posted online and slated for publication in the October issue of the journal Neurosurgery.1

The research team found that the RapidArc Radiosurgery treatment plans for treating multiple tumors in a single fraction are comparable to Gamma Knife plans in terms of how precisely they can conform high doses to match the shape of the targeted tumors, as well as the extent to which RapidArc plans can minimize exposure of normal brain tissue outside the treatment area.

For their paper entitled Comparison of Plan Quality and Delivery Time between Volumetric Arc Therapy (RapidArc) and Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Multiple Cranial Metastases, a clinical team at the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) took 28 previously treated GK cases involving a total of 112 lesions and re-planned them using single fraction RapidArc Radiosurgery. They used a special approach to RapidArc planning that calls for the beam to be delivered using non-coplanar arcs or rotations of the treatment machine around the patient, to maximize the number of treatment angles and enhance precision. In addition, the UAB approach incorporates key optimization criteria that minimize the amount of low dose "spill" reaching normal brain tissues during treatment.
"These findings show that it is possible to deliver radiosurgery to multiple brain metastases with precision comparable to a Gamma Knife treatment, but with far greater efficiency," said researcher Evan Thomas, PhD, primary author of the paper.

"The authors conclude that the RapidArc plans yield 'clinically equivalent conformity.' And the RapidArc treatments are substantially faster to deliver, making them more time efficient and potentially less taxing for patients," said Calvin Huntzinger, senior director of marketing for Varian's Surgical Sciences group.

The UAB approach to RapidArc Radiosurgery planning for multiple metastases, which was previously described in an earlier paper published in 20122, makes use of key features that are built into Varian's Edge™ and TrueBeam™ STx platforms for image-guided radiosurgery, including Varian's HD120 high-definition multileaf collimator for ultra-fine beam shaping; the High Intensity Mode for delivering high doses quickly; and jaw tracking for extra shielding of normal tissues

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