A Southern Hemisphere First – New Cutting-Edge Radiotherapy now available at Icon Cancer Centre
PERTH, Australia, February 27, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cancer patients being treated at Icon Group's Icon Cancer Centre Midland are now benefitting from the latest state-of-the-art radiation treatment planning and delivery technology with the introduction of Varian's RapidArc Dynamic solution.
Headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, Icon Group is a leading integrated cancer care provider with a growing global reach across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the United Kingdom. The decision to embrace RapidArc Dynamic was driven by strong early results showing faster treatment planning, reduced radiation exposure to healthy organs, and potential to set new standards in patient-centred care.
Icon is the first in the Southern Hemisphere and only the third worldwide to clinically treat with RapidArc Dynamic, marking a major step forward in radiation therapy, particularly for patients with breast and prostate cancer.
The introduction of RapidArc Dynamic technology at Icon has yielded significant data-driven improvements in treatment planning and execution including:
Treatment Planning Efficiency: With the use of advanced deterministic algorithms that automate key planning processes, RapidArc Dynamic has achieved up to an 80% reduction in treatment planning time for breast radiotherapy. This innovation enables clinicians to streamline treatment design, further reducing the number of arcs required from up to five down to a single arc per plan.
Reduced Radiation to Organs at Risk (OAR): Reduced radiation exposure to critical organs. For example, the mean dose to the heart has dropped by an average of 22%, lowering the risk of side effects and improving patients' quality of life.
Physician Confidence in Treatment Plans: In a recent blinded physician review, RapidArc Dynamic-based plans were selected as optimal in 100% of cases, demonstrating broad clinical confidence in the technology's ability to enhance plan quality and potentially yield better patient outcomes.
Prof. John Boyages AM, Icon Radiation Oncologist involved in RapidArc Dynamic's early plan quality evaluations, highlighted the clinical impact of this technology.
"I'm really excited about this technology. We already have some of the best treatment plans I've seen in my 40-year career at Icon, and this has just taken it to another level. I'm blown away by the ability to curve radiation around healthy organs and reduce doses to tissues like the heart to very safe levels whilst giving the right doses to the cancer areas," said Prof. Boyages.
The deployment of RapidArc Dynamic is anticipated to guide future dosimetry recommendations, especially for complex breast and nodal studies. The technology's potential for automated planning and initial success with other disease sites signal a shift toward establishing RapidArc Dynamic as a new standard of care in radiotherapy.
Icon Group CEO, Mark Middleton OAM says this highlights an ongoing commitment to reducing the global cancer burden.
"We're extremely proud of our long-term global partnership with Varian which has enabled us to be early adopters of new techniques and technologies," said Mark.
"RapidArc Dynamic adds to our suite of advanced radiotherapy treatments and techniques across our global network and is another example of our commitment to bringing world-class treatments to more communities across the world."
Icon is part of Varian's RapidArc Dynamic Consortium helping support ongoing data collection and clinical assessment, ensuring that patient outcomes continue to drive innovations in cancer treatment. Based on clinical data Icon has plans to introduce RapidArc Dynamic to more locations.
About Icon Group
Icon Group is a leading integrated provider of cancer care provider with a growing global reach in across Australia, New Zealand, ASEAN, Mainland China and the United Kingdom.
Icon is built on a strong but simple mission - to deliver the best care possible to as many people as possible, as close to home as possible. The group brings together all aspects of quality cancer care including medical oncology, haematology, radiation oncology, research, theranostics, pharmacy and compounding to deliver a truly integrated, end-to-end seamless service for cancer patients. With more than 3500 team members, a network of more than 350 doctors, over 50 cancer centres, six compounding facilities and operational support of 70 plus pharmacies, Icon is delivering world-leading care and helping address the global cancer burden.
For more information visit http://www.icongroup.global and follow Icon Group on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/icon-group
About Varian
At Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, we envision a world without fear of cancer. For more than 75 years, Varian has developed, built, and delivered innovative technologies and solutions that help care providers around the globe treat millions of patients each year. Today, as a Siemens Healthineers company, we support every step of the cancer care journey – from screening to survivorship. From advanced imaging and radiation therapy to comprehensive software and services, to interventional radiology, we are harnessing the power of our perspective while also pursuing clinical research to create a more efficient, and more personalized care pathway. Because, for cancer patients everywhere, their fight is our fight. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com.
About Professor John Boyages AM
John is an internationally recognized radiation oncologist and breast cancer specialist with over 40 years of experience in diagnosing and treating breast cancer and trained at Sydney University's Westmead Hospital and at Harvard University in Boston. Throughout his career, Professor Boyages has pioneered innovative approaches in breast cancer detection and treatment, including establishing the Westmead Breast Cancer Institute and BreastScreen NSW Sydney West and the ALERT lymphoedema program at Macquarie University. He has published over 200 research papers and authored the "Taking Control" providing valuable resources for patients (bcpublish.com). Based at Icon Cancer Centre, Wahroonga (Sydney Adventist Hospital), John chairs, Icon's national breast interest group which is a forum for case discussion, peer-review and development of high-quality standards for breast radiation across Australia. He also Chairs Icon's planned Accelerated Partial breast Irradiation (APBI) study. John is available for interviews.
For more information on the RapidArc Dynamic solution and Icon's commitment to elevating standards in radiotherapy, please contact:
Varian: Tom.Harding@Varian.com Icon Group: media@icon.team
Disclaimer: RapidArc Dynamic is not available for sale in all countries and there is no guarantee of commercialization or feature availability.
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Tom Hardingtom.harding@varian.com +65 81381272
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