Oncology Information System to Interface with Proton Radiotherapy System

Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA, USA) and Still River Systems, Inc. announced an agreement to develop an interface between Varian's Aria oncology information system and Still River Systems' (Littleton, MA, USA) Monarch250 proton beam radiotherapy (PBRT) system.

"Aria is a powerful oncology information system that manages the clinical processes unique to radiotherapy treatments for cancer,” said Corey Zankowski, Varian's senior director for product management. "In addition to providing a complete electronic medical record for oncology, Aria is exceptional at recording and verifying the numerous treatment parameters and instruction sets required for complex radiotherapy treatments. Varian is committed to creating a completely open environment and ensuring connectivity between Aria and most commonly used radiation delivery devices, including proton treatment systems. As such, Varian is pleased to be developing, with the support of Still River, an interface with the Monarch250 proton therapy system.”

"It is Varian's aim to bring the familiar workflow, look and feel of Aria into the proton environment, to ease the transition of staff from conventional radiotherapy to proton therapy,” added James DeFilippi, Varian's business manager for integrated proton solutions.

Still River Systems will provide technical assistance to Varian engineers, who will develop the interface to allow important "record and verify” functionality across the two systems. "We are developing the Monarch250 proton therapy system to support existing clinical processes. The Monarch250 Aria interface will allow cancer centers to integrate proton therapy within their existing radiation therapy practices,” remarked Skip Rosenthal, Ph.D., Still River Systems vice president, clinical systems.

Any new ARIA interface that facilitates record and verify functions with new radiotherapy delivery technologies are subject to 510(k) clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and would need such clearance prior to any clinical deployment.

Varian Medical Systems is a world-leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy, and brachytherapy. The company supplies software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers, and medical oncology practices. Varian is a supplier of tubes and digital detectors for X-ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications and also supplies X-ray imaging products for cargo screening and industrial inspection.


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Varian Medical Systems
Still River Systems