The Moores Cancer Center in San Diego, Calif., and Zurich University, Zurich, Switzerland, have both installed CIVCO Medical Solutions' Protura Robotic Patient Positioning System and Universal Couchtop (UCT).
Additionally, CIVCO recently entered into a joint interface agreement with Varian Medical Systems regarding Protura and UCT. Each device is now validated for use with Varian's Clinac and Trilogy platforms, offering an advanced robotics option for Varian Exact treatment couches. CIVCO currently has 8 robotic systems installed on Varian linear accelerators and several more pending installations.
"This is a significant milestone in the development of Protura," said Mike Saracen, vice president, advanced robotics and IGRT solutions at CIVCO. "We are pleased to offer this solution complementing Varian's dynamic, versatile Clinac platform. Protura provides customers with the benefits of precision robotic positioning to meet the motion management demands of IGRT."
Protura's ability to interface with existing IGRT-enabled linacs supports sub-millimeter patient positioning and corrections with 6 degrees of freedom. This, along with the interface-supporting automation is the ideal solution for streamlining throughput and enabling more accurate treatments.
"Varian is committed to providing an open architecture for our treatment delivery solutions," said Corey Zankowski, senior director of product management at Varian. "We want to give our customers the flexibility to adopt new and advanced technologies that best meet the needs of the clinic and their patients."
"The Protura 6 degree of freedom robotic treatment couch is the next step in correcting the patient's position prior to treatment," said Todd Pawlicki, director of physics and clinical operations at Moores Cancer Center. "Motion management in conjunction with Protura has the potential to open the door to real-time patient position adjustments during treatment for increased accuracy during extended treatments."
The lightweight UCT is IGRT friendly and features compatibility with Body Pro-Lok bridges for comfortable and rigid immobilization for hypofractionation, low attenuation and DoseMatch Technology for easy transitions between simulation and treatment.
For more information: www.civco.com
May 03, 2025 
