RapidArc® is advanced technology from Varian Medical Systems that
improves dose conformity to the tumors while significantly shortening
treatment time. The first installations in Asia took place in Taiwan and Hong
Kong, and CGMH was the first hospital in Taiwan to install this cutting-edge
technique.
- RapidArc is a type of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) that
delivers a precisely sculpted 3D dose distribution with a single 360-
degree rotation of the linear accelerator gantry. Compared to fixed-
angle treatment plans, it can spare more normal healthy tissue.
- This machine delivers an intensity modulated plan using the newest
type of linac accelerator through automatic computer controls, giving
the radiation dose to the tumor in a precise and fast manner.
- Volumetric modulated arc therapy differs from existing techniques
like helical IMRT (e.g. Tomotherapy) because it delivers a dose to the
whole volume, rather than slice by slice.
Advantages
- By using multiple intensity modulated fields through a single arc
delivery, RapidArc® can improve patients’ quality of life through the
most optimized dose distribution.
- RapidArc® delivers treatments two to eight times faster than our
fastest dynamic IMRT treatments today. Because RapidArc® delivers
the whole volumetric dose, one treatment takes less than two
minutes to finish. It can reduce dose error caused by organ or body
motion during treatment and minimize discomfort caused by long
treatment time.
- Compared with IMRT, intensity volumetric arc therapy can use less
radiation output with the same prescribed dose. It can reduce whole
body scattered doses to the patient.
- It has Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) and On-Board
Imager (OBI) image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) technologies for
patient positioning.