MUMBAI, India Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- One of India's leading cancer hospitals will expand its program of advanced whole-body radiosurgery with the acquisition of a Varian/BrainLAB Novalis Tx™ radiosurgery platform. Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai is currently constructing a new facility to house the new device and plans to begin treatments in March next year.

The hospital, which currently delivers radiotherapy using three Varian Clinac® linear accelerators and four telecobalt devices, has been carrying out stereotactic radiotherapy on Clinac accelerators since 2000, mainly for brain tumor patients. The acquisition of the new Novalis Tx platform, which was ordered in March, will enable clinicians at Tata to expand this program by routinely delivering state-of-the-art stereotactic radiosurgery to combat both cranial and extra-cranial tumors.

"The new machine will enable us to offer the most modern and advanced radiotherapy and radiosurgery treatments to fight cancer," says Professor S.K. Shrivastava, head of Tata Memorial's Department of Radiation Oncology. "It means our patients will receive very advanced treatments and we can carry out both straightforward and complex cases on the same device, which improves access and efficiency."
Professor Shrivastava added, "We decided to acquire the Novalis Tx because this equipment is a technological marvel and an excellent combination of two leading suppliers of stereotactic radiosurgery technology. We have a history of introducing advanced radiotherapy treatments such as 3D-CRT and intensity-modulated radiotherapy and this move is another step in ensuring our patients receive highly accurate and effective treatments."

Varian and BrainLAB joined forces late last year to introduce the Novalis Tx and Tata Memorial is the first hospital in India to order this advanced solution. Tata Memorial treats over 16,000 new cancer patients each year, with head & neck, breast and cervical cancers the most common. More than 60 percent of the hospital's patients require radiotherapy during their course of treatment. India has a population of over a billion people and there are an estimated one million new cases of cancer diagnosed in India each year.

Novalis Tx offers radiosurgery for malignant and benign lesions throughout the body, arteriovascular malformations, and functional lesions. It features very high dose delivery rates, which means that treatments can be delivered very rapidly. Novalis Tx also offers dynamic ultra-fine beam shaping and frameless patient positioning for more rapid and comfortable treatments. The platform also includes an On-Board Imager® device for pinpointing the tumor and positioning the patient with sub-millimeter precision.

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