CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) today announced that it has received FDA 510(k) clearance for the Acuros(TM) capability offered initially in its brachytherapy treatment planning system. The Acuros clearance was awarded as part of the market-leading Eclipse(TM) treatment planning system. BrachyVision(TM) Acuros, recently introduced at the American Brachytherapy Society meeting in Toronto, Canada, enables superior dose calculation at unmatched speed. The system enables clinicians to rapidly calculate patient dose with an extremely high level of accuracy*. "BrachyVision Acuros calculation times tend to average between three and eight minutes depending on the applicator used," says Hosea Mitchell, head of Varian's brachytherapy business unit. "By comparison, the same calculations could take hours or days using the standard Monte Carlo method." "Securing 510(k) clearance is an important milestone in making this exciting new planning system available to brachytherapy practitioners," adds Mitchell. "Acuros represents a major step forward in terms of accuracy with timeframes that were previously thought unimaginable. It will help clinicians make better decisions about dose to their patients and further their knowledge to make treatments more accurate." Varian is working exclusively with Transpire Inc., developers of Acuros, to bring the benefits of this fast and precise calculation method to the radiation oncology field. In so doing, Varian becomes the only brachytherapy supplier with this capability in a commercially available product. Varian Medical Systems, the world leader in radiotherapy, is currently working to integrate the Acuros module into its Eclipse product for external beam radiotherapy treatment planning. BrachyVision Acuros will be among the products on display at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) at Anaheim, California, from July 26-30. *Compared to standard techniques using the American Association of Physicists in Medicine TG43 formulism. Editorial contact: Neil Madle, Varian Medical Systems, +44 7786 526068 About Varian Medical Systems Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, is the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy, and brachytherapy. The company supplies informatics software for managing comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical oncology practices. Varian is a premier 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. Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 5,100 people who are located at manufacturing sites in North America, China and Europe and in its 79 sales and support offices around the world. For more information, visit http://www.varian.com/ DATASOURCE: Varian Medical Systems, Inc. CONTACT: Neil Madle, Varian Medical Systems, +44 7786 526068 Web Site: http://www.varian.com/

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