by
Lisa Chamoff, Contributing Reporter | October 29, 2018
From the October 2018 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
In April, Varian announced a new version of its Velocity cancer imaging software. Called Velocity 4.0, it has several new capabilities, including RapidSphere image-guided Y90 dosimetry, which offers an image-guided dosimetry solution for Y90 Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) and is a method for tracking absorbed dose, confirming that the treatment was delivered as planned.
The software also offers new features including Velocity M3i, which allows clinicians to use images from multiple modalities – CT, MR, PET, SPECT and ultrasound – for contouring, and Velocity ARIA Sync, which automatically synchs with Varian’s ARIA oncology information system and Eclipse treatment planning system.
A feature called Velocity Tumor & Dose Tracking, which can track radiation dose of multiple treatments and different types of therapies, allows clinicians to verify volumetric tumor changes and a patient’s cumulative dose history.
“This allows them to more easily account for prior treatments and their impact on current or future treatments,” Fisher said.
ViewRay
Last year, ViewRay’s big release was the MRIdian Linac, which combines a linear accelerator with an MR scanner and was cleared by the FDA in February 2017. The company later announced imaging improvements under development that double the signal-to-noise ratio, frame rate and resolution without raising the field strength, said Jim Dempsey, ViewRay's chief scientific officer.
The device uses what Dempsey called a “proprietary approach” to compressed sensing.
“We think there are some very impressive imaging improvements, under development,” Dempsey said. “Speed, resolution and SNR are potentially improved by a factor of three.”
Elekta, which released a similar MR-linac, called the Elekta Unity, uses an MR scanner with a higher field strength
The second generation is available via an upgrade, and Dempsey said some customers with service agreements have already purchased upgrades.
“Their argument has been you need high field strength,” Dempsey said. “Elekta and Philips made a decision to sacrifice dose quality for a better image. As a small team, we work on impossible problems, such as how to make a low-field MRI work like a high-field MRI.”
