Leading Cancer Center Among First in Europe to Treat Patients Using Robotic Patient-Positioning Radiotherapy Couch

A Viennese hospital has become one of the first oncology departments in Europe to introduce clinical treatments using a robotic radiotherapy patient-positioning couch.

Kaiser-Franz-Josef Hospital (KFJ; Vienna, Austria) has introduced this enhanced patient positioning device, which enables more flexibility during radiotherapy treatments, as an integrated element of its latest TrueBeam 2.0 treatment system, developed by Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, CA, USA).

The PerfectPitch six-degrees-of-freedom robotic couch system enables the patient to be positioned more flexibly during treatments, taking advantage of “pitch and roll” positioning to optimize the treatment. “If the couch can pitch and roll as well as moving up, down and sideways, it gives us more precision and flexibility while imaging and treating, and it helps to reduce the time it takes to set-up the patient,” said Dr. Anne-Marie Schratter-Sehn, head of radiation oncology at KFJ Hospital. “These additional positioning capabilities in combination with TrueBeam’s advanced image guidance and motion management tools introduced with the TrueBeam 2.0 upgrade will enable us to extend our stereotactic radiosurgery capabilities and offer more patients a wider range of high precision radiotherapy and radiosurgery treatments."

Varian’s PerfectPitch couch, which has been designed for the accuracy and functionality required to deliver radiosurgery treatments in the brain and in the rest of the body, is an integrated six degrees of freedom (6DoF) robotic treatment couch that provides the means needed to position patients optimally, adjust their position to correct for any misalignments, and support them comfortably during treatment. TrueBeam 2.0 enables integration and control of the PerfectPitch couch, as well as the use of sophisticated image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) and motion management capabilities, connectivity for real-time tracking solutions, and a new low-energy and low-dose imaging beam, all of which combine to provide fast and precise treatments.

Varian’s TrueBeam 2.0 platform and PerfectPitch couch are among the products Varian presented at the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) meeting, held in Vienna from April 4–7, 2014.

Kaiser-Franz-Josef, a busy public hospital treating 1,500 patients each year, has a long history of pioneering advances in radiotherapy and radiosurgery. The hospital was among the first centers in the world about 20 years ago to introduce a unified oncology information and image management system and convert from film to electronic imaging procedures, followed by early clinical adoption of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatments and other advances.

“We are extremely happy to have such a long-standing relationship with this center of excellence and support them in introducing even greater treatment capabilities for the benefit of patients,” said Rolf Staehelin, Varian’s head of international oncology marketing. “This truly illustrates our commitment to be ‘partners for life’ with our customers.”

Related Links:
Kaiser-Franz-Josef Hospital
Varian Medical Systems