Varian's New Rapid Arc VMAT(Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy) Technology

Implications: VMAT is the answer to Tomotherapy and more. This new VMAT technology improves on current IMRT and Tomotherapy.

Analysis: It is faster than current IMRT and Tomotherapy. You can treat a prostate cancer patient in about 100 seconds. You will be able to treat more IMRT patients per day. VMAT gives gives less scattered dose to the patient which can possibly decrease the chance of developing a secondary cancer in the future. It is also more conformal than current IMRT thus decreasing dose to adjacent normal structures which can possible decrease side effects. It is a more versatile machine than a Tomotherapy machine. It does everything that a Tomotherapy unit can do and more. It treats faster and just as conformal as a Tomotherapy unit plus it can still treat with standard IMRT, three dimensional conformal radiation therapy, extracranial and intracranial stereotactic radiation therapy. It is basically just a software upgrade on their current linear accelerators. It is still not approved by the FDA but will probably soon be approved. Patients are currently being treated with VMAT in Canada in a clinical investigation.