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VCA Partners with Varian in Fight Against Pet Cancer

Pet Age Staff//November 12, 2019//

VCA Partners with Varian in Fight Against Pet Cancer

Pet Age Staff //November 12, 2019//

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Press release: VCA Animal Hospitals

VCA Animal Hospitals on November 12 announced a partnership with Varian, as part of its newly launched network of VCA Pet CancerCare Centers across North America, to provide advanced pet cancer radiotherapy treatment at its specialty hospitals.

VCA Pet CancerCare Centers are designed to cultivate open lines of communication, accessibility and collaboration between oncologists and primary care veterinarians across the network – making a pet cancer diagnosis a more manageable condition and understandable process while giving clinicians and pet patients more quality time together.

Many VCA Pet CancerCare Centers will install a fully integrated suite of Varian products, including its ARIA and Eclipse software platforms and TrueBeam or Halcyon radiotherapy systems. These radiotherapy systems deliver high dose cancer treatment with tremendous accuracy, narrowly targeting tumors and minimizing exposure of the surrounding healthy tissues and organs. This technology’s ability to spare surrounding normal tissues will help oncologists achieve their goal of delivering high-quality treatments, reducing hospital visits and shortening treatment times, while improving tumor response and minimizing side effects for pets.

“As part of VCA’s effort to create the nation’s largest network of veterinary-specific oncology treatment centers, we’re proud to partner with Varian to offer state-of-the-art technology that enables our veterinarians to drive the industry forward. VCA now offers radiation therapy options on par with the capabilities of North America’s top human cancer centers,” said Dr. Jamie Custis, chair of VCA’s Radiation Oncology Steering Committee. “By partnering with Varian, our veterinary oncologists can access tools and technologies allowing for collaboration in our ongoing mission to improve the quality of life of pets.”

VCA board-certified oncology teams will develop individualized treatment plans for pets using advanced software (Varian Eclipse), proprietary machine learning, artificial intelligence and patient-specific computed tomography scans. This technology makes it possible to deliver fast and accurate image-guided treatments within just a few minutes per day, with the goal to make cancer treatment faster, more effective and with fewer side effects so pets remain comfortable and active during radiotherapy.

“We’re thrilled to embark on this journey with VCA and their Pet CancerCare Centers,” said Eric Stewart, global managing director, veterinary oncology at Varian. “Their work in veterinary oncology is inspirational, serving as a testament to the breakthroughs that are achieved by communities of clinicians, surgeons, and solution providers dedicated to fighting cancer and improving the quality of life of pets.”

There are 35 VCA specialty hospitals collaborating to create Pet CancerCare Centers across North America. The first five Pet CancerCare™ Centers to receive Varian radiotherapy systems are VCA California Veterinary Specialists in Carlsbad, California; VCA Sacramento Vet Referral in California, VCA Advanced Veterinary Care Center in Fishers, Indiana; VCA Aurora Animal Hospital in Illinois; and VCA SouthPaws Veterinary Specialists & Emergency Center in Fairfax, Virginia.