Palo Alto, Calif.-based Varian Medical Systems recently announced that Penn Medicine has treated a patient with head and neck cancer— the first person in the world to be treated on Varian’s new Halcyon system. Halcyon is suited to handle the majority of cancer patients, offering advanced treatments for prostate, breast, head and neck, and other forms of cancer.
The treatment for this patient at Penn Medicine was a complex case that involved the delivery of nine fields. The total patient time in the treatment room, including set-up, imaging, three minutes of beam time and patient discharge, was 13 minutes.
Halcyon is an advanced system designed for patient comfort while delivering ease of use for healthcare providers, accelerated installation timeframes, expedited commissioning, simplified training, and automated treatment.
“The first patient treatment is a major milestone for the Halcyon system,” says Kolleen Kennedy, president of Varian’s Oncology Systems business. “Working closely with leading institutions like Penn Medicine, helped shape the human-centered design focus of Halcyon and our ability to deliver a system that simplifies and enhances virtually every aspect of image-guided volumetric intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). We are excited to see treatments commencing and continuing our efforts of advancing cost-effective cancer care worldwide.”
“We are proud to have delivered the world’s first Halcyon treatment, which contributes to our ongoing mission to provide patients the widest and most advanced array of cancer treatment options,” says James Metz, MD, chair of radiation oncology at Penn Medicine. “This platform combines reduced treatment time with simplified operation, and for some diseases, it even lets us be more precise with the radiation we’re delivering.”
