Software Developed for Permanent Seed Prostate Brachytherapy Treatments

Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, CA, USA; www.varian.com) is introducing an updated version of its VariSeed brachytherapy seed planning software. VariSeed 8.0 incorporates several new features that allow greater visibility of the treatment. "The new features provide even better visibility of the positions of individual seeds in permanent seed implants, said Rebecca Claydon, software product manager with Varian's brachytherapy business unit. Based on feedback from urologists, VariSeed 8.0 facilitates the planning of prostate seed brachytherapy treatments by biopsy section so that a localized boost may be delivered to a target region of the prostate.”

Contouring the urethra has been simplified by the introduction of the Structure sweep, which is also available in the VariSeed Implant View module for interactive seed placement and dosimetry. Among the new features is a tool that creates a digital reconstruction of the compute tomography (CT) image and makes it much simpler to define the seed placement. A typical permanent seed implant involves up to 120 radioactive seeds, each the size of a grain of rice.

There are more than 1,200 hospital sites worldwide using approximately 1,500 VariSeed software systems for guiding the placement of permanent prostate seed implants in what is called low dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy. Use of this technique alone or with external beam radiotherapy is increasing for patients, including about 60,000, or one third, of men who are diagnosed annually with prostate cancer in the United States.


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