CT hooks up with linear accelerator

Varian and GE Medical Systems have combined imaging and radiotherapy to create the EXaCT Targeting Cancer Care system. The new product, shown Nov. 4 to 8 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology (ASTRO) in San Francisco, features a GE HiSpeed CT scanner combined with Varian’s Clinac medical linear accelerator. Linking the two is a couch that pivots between them. The idea is to treat patients in the same position in which they were imaged, thereby reducing errors due to misalignment or changes in size, shape, or location of tumors and surrounding tissues.