Entering its third year of commercial availability, Elekta VMAT has garnered more than 200 orders, with many customers using the arc-based technique clinically since 2008. These clinical Elekta VMAT users have employed the method to treat hundreds of patients worldwide. With Elekta VMAT, single or multiple radiation beams sweep in uninterrupted arc(s) around the patient, reducing treatment times from the eight to 12 minutes required for standard radiation therapy to as few as two minutes.

"As a pioneer in arc-based radiation treatment, we are gratified to see the clinical and practical benefits of Elekta VMAT afforded to many hundreds of patients around the world," says Dee Mathieson, Senior Vice President, Oncology Business Line Management. "The current integration of the technique with an electronic medical record [EMR] system and introduction of an improved VMAT planning package on the horizon make Elekta VMAT a comprehensive treatment solution and the definitive arc-based technique on the market."

The 2009 meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) featured numerous posters and presentations on Elekta VMAT studies. Summaries of selected studies:

* Casa di Cura S. Chiara, Firenze, Italy: VMAT v. IMRT plan comparisons for prostate cancer. Result: Retrospective VMAT plans would provide shorter treatment times and lower radiation dose (fewer MU's).
* University Medical Center Mannheim, Germany: IMRT v. VMAT in treatment of spinal metastases. Result: IMRT is superior to 3D conformal in target coverage, but had treatment times averaging 10 minutes. VMAT also provided an excellent dose distribution, but recorded treatment times of less than four minutes and lower dose (fewer MU's) compared to IMRT.
* William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan: VMAT for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) of lung and spine. Results: In two lung cases, VMAT reduced dose enough to enable SBRT. In three spine cases, radiation dose was reduced versus IMRT. Treatment times were decreased by up to 13 minutes or 59 percent.

At the University of Tokyo, clinicians led by Keiichi Nakagawa, M.D., radiation oncologist and professor in the department of radiology, have treated more than 60 prostate cancer patients with Elekta VMAT. The entire treatment takes just 10 minutes, encompassing patient room entry, imaging of the patient on the table to adjust treatment positioning, 100 seconds of VMAT beam-on-time and patient room exit.

Clinicians at University Medical Center Mannheim have been evaluating Elekta VMAT for a year, utilizing the technique for 15 patients with prostate or paraspinal tumors. This work confirmed for Mannheim doctors the ability of the Elekta treatment and control systems to deliver the radiation arcs rapidly and as specified in plans.

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