Monday, October 22, 2018
Varian today announced the Bravos™ afterloader system for High Dose Rate (HDR) brachytherapy treatments. Based on over five years of in-clinic research, Bravos is an integrated system designed to improve the patient and clinic experience by simplifying brachytherapy treatment and providing greater workflow efficiency.
HDR brachytherapy involves delivering radiotherapy by temporarily placing a tiny radioactive source directly into the tumor or other targeted area. Using an afterloader, clinicians are able to position the radioactive source in a needle, catheter or tumor-specific applicator following a pattern that has been designed to create a highly conformal dose distribution within or on the surface of the patient's anatomy. Once the treatment is completed, the afterloader safely returns the source to the afterloader.
To simplify the treatment process, the Bravos afterloader features a touchscreen control and instinctive LED lights. The touchscreen provides easy access to patient treatment information on the afterloader, eliminating the need for the clinician to leave the room to retrieve patient and treatment information. The green, yellow and red LED lights on Bravos guide clinicians through the correct connection process of the transfer guide tubes. The green lights signal a proper connection and the yellow and red lights alert the clinician to areas needing correction.
To help increase efficiency of the treatment process, Bravos features a customizable pre-treatment checklist on the touchscreen. Like surgical procedures, the customizable checklist allows the clinician to set a review process including a time-out for patient safety, and e-signatures for speed and accuracy.
"We are excited about the capabilities of Bravos and have already begun treating patients in our department," said Vicki Currie, lead Brachytherapy Physicist, Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital. "As we continue to use and learn the features in this new system, the clinical efficiencies will enable us to improve our Brachytherapy workflow."
"After spending time in clinics around the world talking with the treatment teams, we saw the opportunity to create a system that is easy to use and creates greater efficiencies, allowing clinicians to spend more time with the patient," said Ed Vertatschitsch, vice president, Global Portfolio Solutions, Varian. "Bravos is a big step forward for brachytherapy treatments and we will continue to collaborate with our partners in achieving new victories against cancer."
Bravos integrates with Varian's BrachyVision™ for treatment planning and offers interoperability with Varian ARIA® oncology information system. Bravos has received CE mark and FDA 510(k) clearance.
