Leading Dutch Cancer Center Equipped with Advanced Varian Treatment Systems Presents Results of Major Nationwide Study into Improving Survival Rates

AMSTERDAM, July 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Details of advances in the use of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) to treat early stage lung cancer in both high risk operable and inoperable cases were presented at the biennial World Conference for Lung Cancer (WCLC) here in Amsterdam today, including significant improvements in survival of elderly lung cancer patients in the Netherlands as a result of more advanced SBRT treatments.

A study into survival rates among lung cancer patients in the Netherlands between 2003 and 2009 was one of only four, out of approximately 1900 abstracts, selected for presentation at the WCLC Presidential Symposium. The study(1) was outlined by Dr. Cornelis Haasbeek from VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, where patients are treated on six advanced medical linear accelerators from radiosurgery world leader Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR). This hospital has pioneered the use of SBRT in the Netherlands, involving higher doses being delivered in fewer sessions with greater precision than is usual with conventional radiotherapy.