TomoTherapy(R) Cancer Treatment Technology Debuts In Switzerland

TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TTPY) announced that the University Hospital of Lausanne (CHUV) has begun treating patients with the TomoTherapy(R) Hi-Art(R) treatment system, the first to be installed in Switzerland.

"We are pleased to work with the CHUV to make this new weapon in the fight against cancer available to Swiss patients," said Rik Van den Neste, M.D., director of European sales for TomoTherapy. "By implementing the TomoTherapy platform, the CHUV demonstrates its leadership and commitment to providing access to new strategies for care."

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Radiation Therapy Equipment Vendors Test System Integration

The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology hosted an Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise - Radiation Oncology (IHE-RO) connectathon recently at its headquarters in Fairfax, Va., to advance its effort to promote seamless connectivity and integration of radiotherapy equipment and patient health information systems. The connectathon was the final step in a multi-step process that included vendor development, software testing and real-time interconnectivity testing.

Allowing physicians to purchase the best equipment for their practices, regardless of manufacturer, will hopefully reduce medical errors as healthcare staff will no longer have to re-enter information because systems are unable to communicate. This will also allow equipment manufacturers to focus on developing their niche systems rather than forcing them to produce an entire product line.

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Safer, More Accurate Radiation Therapy For Expecting Mothers

Developing fetuses are extremely sensitive to radiation, which poses an impossible dilemma for expecting mothers in need of screening or treatment for cancer. Now researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new set of modeling tools that could enable safer, more accurate, and more effective radiation therapy and nuclear medicine imaging procedures for pregnant women.

Radiation is a doubled-edged sword: It holds the power to cure cancer, but if used improperly it can also cause serious damage to the human body. The situation is even more critical with pregnant females, as any errant radiation could severely harm and impede the growth of the fetus.

Science Daily

Eclipse Proton Scanning Algorithm From Varian Medical Systems Receives FDA Clearance

Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) has received FDA 510(k) clearance for a new proton scanning dose algorithm that offers clinicians greater control over how proton beams are used to target tumors and other abnormalities. The new algorithm, which has been incorporated into Varian's Eclipse treatment planning software, makes it possible to plan for intensity modulated proton therapy by optimizing dose distributions in three dimensions in order to protect surrounding healthy tissues.

This proton scanning technique improves on current proton delivery methods that require a therapist to enter and exit the treatment room numerous times throughout a treatment to adjust physical compensators for processing proton beams. "With proton scanning and intensity-modulation, this cumbersome process can be completely eliminated," said Jeff Amacker, Varian's business manager for treatment planning products.

MedicalNewsToday

New Image Guided Radiotherapy System Benefits High Risk Patients

A new radiotherapy system that combines high-tech imaging with precision tumor-targeting capability is helping cancer specialists at Stony Brook University Medical Center treat patients. Those with medically inoperable tumors, at high-risk for surgery, or who do not want surgical treatment may benefit most from the ExacTrac® X-ray 6D System for image-guided radiotherapy. The system adds to patient options for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), a technique that features high radiation doses with pinpoint precision to tumors.

Denis Keefe, 63, of Patchogue, N.Y., is a lung cancer patient who choose the image-guided radiotherapy system because it is the least invasive method available to treat his disease. Keefe was among the first patients to be treated with the system. The option was a good one for Keefe because his lung tumor was small and surgery remained risky because of his overall condition as a congestive heart failure patient.

MedicalNewsTodays

Newer Radiation Treatment Easier For Some Throat Cancer Patients

Treating throat cancer with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) can improve the health-related quality of life of patients compared to conventional radiation therapy (CRT), according to a study in the December 1 issue of the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

Oropharyngeal cancer, sometimes referred to as throat cancer, is a cancer that develops in the part of the throat located just behind the mouth, called the oropharynx. This includes cancer in the tonsil and in the back of the tongue. Squamous cell carcinomas, originating from the cells that normally form the lining of the mouth and throat, account for more than 90 percent of oropharyngeal cancers. In recent years, there is a trend for younger people and nonsmokers to develop this cancer.

MedicalNewsToday

New radiation therapy helping those with liver cancer

Traditional cancer radiation therapy is delivered from the outside, an external beam aimed at internal organs. Now there's a new kind of radiation for liver cancer that works from the inside out. A two-inch cancerous tumor in the liver of Ruben Caudillo is threatening his life. Hepatitis C has led to liver cancer for 55-year-old Caudillo, who is not a candidate for surgery.

A new technique may help extend Caudillo's life. It's called therasphere. An interventional radiologist snakes a catheter through the groin to the liver and then delivers millions of tiny glass beads that emit radiation. The beads get lodged in the vessels of the tumor and destroy cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact.

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A new device will make quality control of radiotherapy treatments possible

The research team from the Department of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Granada (UGR), together with the Department of Radiology at the Hospital Virgen de las Nieves in Granada, have designed a portable and low-cost device which can measure the ionizing radiation someone is exposed to, for example, during radiotherapy.

Ionizing radiations play a vital role in the treatment and diagnosis of malignant neoplastic illnesses as well as in the diagnosis of other pathologies. However, according to Manuel Vilches Pacheco from the Medical Physics and Radiology Department at the Hospital Virgen de las Nieves in Granada, the potential harm ionizing radiations can cause means that, in order to obtain clinical benefits and reduce the onset of unwanted adverse effects as much as possible, they must be used under strict quality control.

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Radiation Found To Be More Effective Than Surgery At Preventing Second Larynx Cancers In Patients Treated For Early Larynx Cancer

Researchers from Loyola University Medical Center have recently reported on the safety and efficacy of two treatment options commonly recommended to patients with early larynx cancer.

The largest and only study of its kind examined a total of 3898 patients from a NCI sponsored national database who underwent either surgery or radiation. The lead investigator, Dr. Gopal Sachdeva concluded that long term cure rates were equivalent with both of these options. In addition, there was no increased risk of second cancers among patients who received radiation compared to the surgical control. More importantly, surgical management of these patients resulted in a long term statistically significant increased risk of developing a second laryngeal cancer which radiation appears to protect against. This, according to Dr. Sachdeva, "can be explained by a concept called 'field cancerization.'"


MedicalNewsToday

Radiation Kidney Damage In BMT Patients May Be Limited By Drug In Common Use

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee have found that the risk of radiation injury in normal tissue after exposure may be reduced by a drug in common use. Their study in press appears in the online issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics.

It suggests that long-term administration of the drug captopril, starting at three weeks after patients receive total body irradiation in preparation for bone marrow transplantation (BMT), showed a favorable trend for better long-term kidney function and better long-term patient survival. Chronic kidney failure continues to be a major complication in these patients caused by radiation injury.

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Chemotherapy, radiation combo may double lung cancer patients' life expectancy

Washington, Nov 10 (ANI): According to a new study, chemotherapy given at the same time as radiation therapy might help patients with a certain type of lung cancer live longer than they might have otherwise if the same treatment was given differently.

The study, led by Walter Curran Jr., M.D., professor and chair of Radiation Oncology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Centre in Philadelphia, found that the combination may help patients live longer by 50 percent.

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Normal Tissue Not Spared In New Forms Of Breast Cancer Radiotherapy

A five day course of radiotherapy to treat breast cancer may, in some cases, expose as much lung and heart tissue to potentially toxic radiation as does the standard six weeks of treatment, say researchers at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville.

That because the short treatment, known as partial breast irradiation, focus radiation to a small sector of the breast through multiple beams, these beams can pass through the breast to the heart and lungs that lie behind, researchers found. Radiating the entire breast over weeks, as is standard practice, can expose much of the heart and lungs to long periods of lower dose radiation, they say.

Science Daily

Discovery could increase tumors' sensitivity to radiation therapy

St. Louis, Nov. 1, 2007 ¡ª To make tumors more sensitive to the killing power of radiation is a key aspiration for many radiation oncologists. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have uncovered new information that leads them closer to that goal.

In an upcoming issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology, they report the first extensive study of an enzyme called MOF that helps control how DNA is packaged in cells. The researchers show that MOF is an essential factor for tumor development, and they say it may be possible to manipulate the enzyme to make tumors more sensitive to radiation therapy.

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After Surgery High-Risk Prostate Cancer Kept At Bay By Radiation

An analysis of data involving more than 2,000 patients from 17 U.S. institutions demonstrates that men with high-risk prostate cancer who receive radiation therapy after a prostatectomy were less likely to have a recurrence of disease. What's more, men whose cancer persists after surgery were less likely to see the cancer spread if they receive radiation (salvage therapy). These are the conclusions of a study presented at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 49th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

"Our analysis gives us a robust picture of the national experience in treating these high-risk prostate cancers," said Eric M. Horwitz, M.D., clinical director of the radiation oncology department at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, and lead author of the study.

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Study Suggests Statins May Make Radiation More Effective At Curing Prostate Cancer

Patients with prostate cancer who receive high-dose radiation treatment and also take statin drugs commonly used to lower cholesterol have a 10 percent higher chance of being cured of their cancer at 10 years after diagnosis (76 percent), compared to those who don't take these medications (66 percent), according to a study to be presented at a scientific session October 31, 2007, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 49th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

The study demonstrated that the greatest benefit of statin medications was observed in patients who had more aggressive or advanced forms of prostate cancer. The research also showed that men who took statins during high-dose radiation therapy had a lower rate of the cancer spreading to distant parts of the body. "We were, indeed, surprised by the findings that statins used by these patients for other conditions was shown to improve the effectiveness of radiation treatment in killing prostate cancer cells," said Michael J. Zelefsky, M.D., the senior author of the study and a radiation oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. "The use of statins during radiation may also be effective in the treatment of other types of cancer. However, more studies are necessary to explore the association between statins and radiation treatment in curing cancers."

Medicalnewstoday.com

Breast Cancer Radiotherapy Causes Damage To Normal Tissue

A five day course of radiotherapy to treat breast cancer may, in some cases, expose as much lung and heart tissue to potentially toxic radiation as does the standard six weeks of treatment, say researchers at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville.

That because the short treatment, known as partial breast irradiation, focus radiation to a small sector of the breast through multiple beams, these beams can pass through the breast to the heart and lungs that lie behind, researchers found. Radiating the entire breast over weeks, as is standard practice, can expose much of the heart and lungs to long periods of lower dose radiation, they say.

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New Technology Developed At BC Cancer Agency May Revolutionize Radiation Therapy Delivery, Canada

The BC Cancer Agency, an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority, has developed a revolutionary technology that will enable cancer patients to receive faster and more precise radiation therapy. Gordon Wright, a 72 year old retired commercial fisherman diagnosed with prostate cancer this July, is the first patient in the world treated with this technology.

"I obviously wanted the best treatment possible," says Wright, whose first treatment lasted just over a minute and a half, "and it's comforting to know that I'm benefiting from the latest technology while contributing to research that can help many people in the future."

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Damage To Surrounding Organs In Prostate Cancer Prevented By Guided Radiation Therapy

Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers have found that highly targeted radiation therapy for prostate cancer can ensure that the majority of persons with this tumor will not have any long-term rectal damage.

A group of 231 study participants received a combination of intensity-modulated radiation and seed marker-based image-guided radiation therapies (IM-IGRT) for prostate cancer then were tracked for 1.4 years. Nearly 98 percent of these participants had no rectal damage, according to Todd Scarbrough, M.D., principal investigator, associate professor, radiation medicine, OHSU School of Medicine; and an OHSU Cancer Institute member. This combination allows for millimeter targeting accuracy of the tumor.

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Positioning Pelvic Cancer Patients On Stomachs For Radiation Yields Better Results

Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers have found that positioning pelvic cancer patients on their stomachs rather than their backs is a better method for delivering radiation therapy. Because patients return for multiple therapies, being able to reproduce the positioning of the patient allowed more precision, which reduces toxicity.

"It was a surprising finding," according to according to Martin Fuss, M.D., the director of the Program in Image-Guided Radiation Therapy, OHSU Radiation Medicine, and OHSU Cancer Institute member.

Science Daily

Varian Medical Systems Ranks First in Overall Service Performance in 2007 Survey of U.S. Radiation Oncology Professionals

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems' (NYSE: VAR - News) has been ranked first in the industry in overall service performance by the ServiceTrak(TM) 2007 survey report on radiation oncology accelerators published by IMV, Ltd., a research company that analyzes service trends in various medical technology sectors and rates manufacturers' performance on the basis of telephone interviews with customers.

Varian ranked first in 15 out of 34 of the service attributes covered by this year's survey. In addition, the company's scores exceeded the industry averages for 30 of the 34 parameters measure

press release

Houston Radiation Oncologist Uses Video Game Technology To Zap Cancer

For years, Dr. Brian Butler, radiation oncologist at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, would be the first to tell you that video games are a waste of time. Shouldn't kids be reading, keeping their grades up and taking part in activities that keep them fit?

Butler now argues we have a lot to learn from those who immerse themselves in a world of video game technology. It is this technology that is revolutionizing radiation therapy for cancer. When an Ivy League college was unable to do it, he turned to a group of Dallas-based video game programmers in their 20s to create a system for him that takes targeted cancer therapy to another level.

Cancer therapy is now a video game, and the make believe shoot 'em up is not make believe at all. The enemy is cancer. The growth patterns of cancer are the "supply lines." And, because the program enables doctors to pinpoint the location of the cancer with the precision of a sniper rifle, it spares surrounding healthy tissue and cells from damage.

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BSD Medical to Deliver Message of Hope to Largest Conference of Radiation Oncologists

BSD Medical Corp. (Nachrichten) (AMEX:BSM) today announced that the company will be exhibiting at the 49th meeting of the largest radiation oncology conference held in America, the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation and Oncology (ASTRO), to be held in Los Angeles October 28-31. ASTRO has over 8,500 members, and the attendance for this ASTRO conference is expected to exceed the 11,000 participants from last year.

The theme of this year's conference is “Treating Cancer While Preserving Quality of Life.“ BSD will deliver a strong message of hope, based upon the promise of its cancer treatment, consistent with the theme of the conference.

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Varian Medical Systems to Introduce RapidArc(TM) Radiotherapy Technology for Volumetric Arc Therapy

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 25
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/
ASTRO Booth # 419

Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR - News) today announced that it has developed groundbreaking technology for faster, more precise cancer treatments using a unique form of volumetric arc therapy. Varian's new RapidArc(TM) radiotherapy technology* will enable clinicians to program a Varian linear accelerator to deliver more precise forms of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) up to eight times faster than is possible with conventional or helical IMRT (tomotherapy). Varian will unveil RapidArc at the 2007 meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) in Los Angeles later this week.

press release

New International Colorectal Cancer Study Using Targeted Radiotherapy

Doctors anticipate a new international research study into advanced colorectal cancer will determine the best first-line treatment to prolong and improve the lives of patients with disease that has spread to their liver, and may change standard colorectal cancer treatment practices worldwide.

The largest of its kind in the world, the SIRFLOX study has now started in twelve Australian hospitals and will compare two of the latest treatments for secondary liver cancer: an innovative Australian-developed radiation therapy that targets liver tumours, and three systemic chemotherapy drugs.

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Proton Therapy Helps Fight Cancer

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- There's a celebration of sorts at Shands Jacksonville. The University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute is celebrating its first anniversary.

It's the only proton therapy center in the Southeast and only one of five in the entire country.

It is big. Three stories tall. A massive machine from the front where it rotates around the patient; and from the back where it looks like something out of a spaceship.

Sherry Robbins is undergoing treatment for head and neck cancer. "I feel like I'm in Star Wars. They talk about the beam in the other room. It's bizarre."

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Researchers Working on Reducing Side Effects of Radiotherapy

Scientists from the University of Manchester will be discussing their work at the National Cancer Research Institute conference in Birmingham. Their research is aimed at reducing the side effects of radiotherapy without decreasing its effectiveness.

Around half of patients receive radiotherapy as part of their cancer treatment but the dose is limited by the possibility of causing side effects (toxicity) to the normal tissues and organs that surround the tumour. Some patients are more likely to experience these side effects than others: that is, there is an individual variation in tissue response. Some patients will be very sensitive.

source article here

Breast Cancer Radiation Does Not Affect Women's Immune System

Medical News Today

A new study shows that neither of two commonly used radiation treatments for early-stage, node-negative breast cancer has any effect on a woman's immune system, even though women who receive five-day partial-breast radiation therapy (MammoSite® brachytherapy) (PBRT) have improved energy and quality of life compared to women who undergo six weeks of whole-breast radiation therapy (WBRT).

"One of the first questions a woman newly diagnosed with breast cancer asks is what impact will radiation have on my body?'" said lead author Dr. Kevin Albuquerque, radiation oncologist at the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola University Health System, Maywood, Illinois, U.S.A. "This study helps allay some fears."

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Treatment Of Cancer In Hospitals Shows A Decrease In The Use Of Radiotherapy Procedures

The Department of Radiology and Physical Medicine of the Universidad de Granada, in Andalusian hospitals radiotherapy is not used as much as should be expected for the treatment of cancer, in favour of other procedures such as chemotherapy or surgery. The study, carried out by Doctor Patricia Cabrera Roldan, and directed by Professor Jose Exposito Hernandez, revealed that the application of radiotherapy treatment often exceeds appropriate time limits, and varies a lot depending on the hospital in which such treatment is applied.

This study is based on the data of patients, treated in any of the 10 Andalusian public hospitals during a period of one year, who were submitted to radiotherapy procedures for the treatment of tumours in the breast, lung, head and neck, cervix and endometrium. The researchers' main objectives were to analyse the frequency of application of radiotherapy treatment in patients suffering from cancer (rate of radiation) and to determine the existence of substantial differences in the application of radiotherapy treatment among different hospitals.

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IMRT better for sparing bladder when treating prostate cancer

When treating early-stage prostate cancer, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) spares the bladder significantly more from direct radiation when compared to 3-D conformal proton therapy (3D-CPT), but the amount of rectal sparing is similar with both treatments, according to a study released in the October issue of the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

“This study was important because it reassures a patient with prostate cancer that the methods that are available at his local hospital may, in many cases, be as good as those that are currently only available in a limited number of centers,” said Anthony L. Zietman, M.D., a professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School and a radiation oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

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Safe Reduction Of Radiotherapy Is The Aim Of Cancer Researchers

University of Manchester scientists discussed their research aimed at reducing the side effects of radiotherapy without decreasing its effectiveness at the National Cancer Research Institute conference in Birmingham yesterday (Tuesday 2 October 2007).

Around half of patients receive radiotherapy as part of their cancer treatment but the dose is limited by the possibility of causing side effects (toxicity) to the normal tissues and organs that surround the tumour. Some patients are more likely to experience these side effects than others: that is, there is an individual variation in tissue response. Some patients will be very sensitive.

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Study Looks At Acupuncture For Reduction Of Radiotherapy-Induced Nausea

Despite widespread belief among cancer patients and health care professionals that acupuncture helps relieve nausea caused by cancer treatment, new research in radiotherapy has found it does not.

The study, presented at the European Cancer Conference (ECCO 14) in Barcelona, evaluated the effectiveness of acupuncture in 215 patients with various types of cancer who got either active acupuncture or a sham treatment that involved an identical looking and feeling needle that retracted into the handle on contact with the skin.

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Real-Time System Used To Plant 'Seeds' Against Cancer

Radiation oncologists and urologists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia have begun using a real-time system to implant radiation-emitting seeds in prostate cancer patients. While the system, which is made by Nucletron, a technology company based in The Netherlands, is only being used for imaging and planning purposes so far, it ultimately will help with the actual placement of the seeds. To date, Jefferson is the first medical center in the Delaware Valley to begin employing the new system.

The multidisciplinary team of urologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, radiation physicists and others involved in using the device are hoping that the new federal Food and Drug Administration-approved technology will make an already good system even better, adding scientific precision to a treatment that currently relies mainly on physician experience and skill.

source article Medical News Today

Internal Radiotherapy Better for Endometrial Cancer patients

Quality of life after treatment for endometrial cancer can be significantly improved by the use of vaginal brachytherapy, where radiotherapy is delivered internally using a vaginal cylinder, the European Cancer Conference (ECCO 14) heard today (Monday September 24).

Dr. Remi Nout, from the clinical oncology department of the Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands, said that this quality of life benefit would be an important factor to take into account when balancing the risks and benefits of using vaginal brachytherapy or external beam pelvic radiotherapy after surgery.

“Up till now we have known very little about the quality of life of women with endometrial cancer,” he said, “and how radiotherapy impacts on it. This is the first analysis of data from a randomised trial on the subject.

source article Huliq.com

Beaumont Patients 1st to get Next Generation of Radiation Treatment

ROYAL OAK, Mich., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Cancer patients at Beaumont Hospitals are the first in the world to be treated with the next generation of radiation therapy that is painless, faster, more accurate and precise than other treatments.

Beaumont doctors and physicists invented and patented the new technology, Omnibeam®. The $3.3-million machine is manufactured in England by Elekta, which is headquartered in Stockholm. The first patient was treated on Sept. 10.

The painless treatment takes about 20 minutes and requires no implants or invasive procedures to prepare for therapy. It can be used to treat cancer of the breast; prostate; lungs; and head and neck, as well as other cancers. It is specially designed for the treatment of tumors deep within the body.


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Radiation technique cuts prostate cancer treatment time

DALLAS – Sept. 20, 2007 – Researchers have launched a clinical trial for prostate cancer that will test a new type of radiation treatment that can be completed in five 30-minute sessions.

Led by Dr. Robert Timmerman, vice chairman of radiation oncology at the University of Texas Southwestern, the researchers will test the effectiveness of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), a relatively new technique that delivers very high doses of focused radiation to precisely targeted tumors. Dr. Timmerman has successfully used the technique to treat patients with lung and liver cancers.

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Radiation Therapy To Prevent Brain Tumours Can Improve Survival For Small-Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Patients with small-cell lung cancer who receive a course of radiation therapy to their heads after responding to chemotherapy live longer and are less likely to develop secondary brain tumours, a common feature of this disease, than those who are offered no further treatment, according to the results of a randomised controlled trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (N Engl J Med 2007; 357: 664-72)

Small-cell lung cancer, which mainly occurs in current or former smokers, spreads quickly and is rapidly fatal. Advances in treatment have done little to improve survival rates over the past 25 years and brain metastases are common with this disease. At least 18% of patients already have secondary brain tumours when they get their diagnosis and at 2 years 80% of patients show symptoms of brain involvement.

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Varian Medical Systems and BrainLAB Join Forces to Introduce Novalis® Tx

Novalis® Tx unveiled at the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) meeting in San Diego, California

September 18, 2007 – Palo Alto, Calif. – In a move to offer superior noninvasive treatment options for patients, Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE:VAR) and BrainLAB have teamed up to create Novalis® Tx, integrating the most successful radiosurgery technologies from both companies for imaging, treatment planning, and treatment delivery.

Novalis Tx integrates Varian’s Trilogy® Tx linear accelerator and new HD120 multi-leaf collimator offering 2.5 mm leaves for finer beam shaping. This ultra-precise radiosurgical instrument will use a variety of standard and configurable options including Varian’s On-board Imager® device, the BrainLAB ExacTrac® X-Ray 6D room mounted X-Ray imaging system, BrainLAB iPlan® treatment planning software as well as Varian’s Eclipse™ treatment planning and ARIA™ information management software.

“This powerful platform enables both companies to offer radiation oncologists, neurosurgeons and other medical specialists the sharpest knife available for radiosurgery,” said Tim Guertin president and CEO of Varian Medical Systems.

full press release here

Radiation Overdose Scandal is Much Higher in France

Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said the cancer overdose radiation scandal is much higher than previously thought following the discovery of 300 new cases.

A total of 721 men suffering from prostate cancer are now known to have received excessive amounts of radiation due to a calibration error at the Epinal general hospital between 1999 and 2006. Twenty-four were seriously affected and five of these have died.

When the scandal was first revealed earlier this year, only 421 cases were identified.

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Accuray Receives FDA Clearance For New Dose Calculation Technique For Body Radiosurgery

Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, announced today that its Monte Carlo Dose Calculation algorithm has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is now commercially available worldwide. This announcement was made as part of the product's launch at the 9th Biennial European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) meeting on Physics and Radiation Technology for Clinical Radiotherapy in Barcelona, Spain.

Treatment with radiation therapy or radiosurgery requires a linear accelerator to deliver one or more x-ray beams to a target. Each beam is made up of trillions of photons, and each photon follows an individual path to the target. Traditional dose calculation methods assume all photons take a single path and therefore use a single calculation to represent the dose delivered by all photons

source article

Radiation to the Pelvis Reduces Relapses in Prostate Cancer

According to an article recently published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, radiation administered to the whole pelvis (whole-pelvic radiation) extends biochemical relapse-free survival (bRFS) compared with radiation directed just at the prostate and surrounding tissues among men with early prostate cancer who are at a high risk of developing a recurrence.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers diagnosed in men in the United States. Early prostate cancer refers to cancer that has not spread to distant sites in the body. Depending upon the extent of spread, patient age, aggressiveness of the cancer, and patient wishes, early (localized) prostate cancer may be treated with radiation therapy, watchful waiting (no therapy until disease progression), cryotherapy, surgery, and/or hormone therapy. A priority among healthcare providers is to utilize therapies that provide optimal outcomes with little or no impact on quality of life.

source article

Modern Radiation Therapy Ups Lung Cancer Survival

Modern 3-D radiation therapy has been proven to be more successful at curing lung cancer than older 2-D radiation therapy for some patients with early stage lung cancer, according to a new study in a recent edition of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 87 percent of all lung cancers diagnosed. Currently, the best treatment for stage I NSCLC is surgery or stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT), often followed by chemotherapy if the lesion is larger than 3 cm or radiotherapy and chemotherapy if the surgical margin or hilar or mediastinal nodes are positive at the time of operation. The five-year survival outcomes are very high, with 50 percent to 67 percent of these patients living at least five years after diagnosis if patients have a well-staged stage I NSCLC.

source article

Radiation Therapy and Drug Combo is Effective in Treating Lung Cancer

A combination of radiation therapy and bavituximab, a monoclonal antibody that helps destroy blood vessels nourishing malignant tumours, is more effective in treating lung cancer than either approach alone, say researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

The researchers based their results on the findings of a study in which human lung-cancer cells were implanted in mice.

Dr. Philip Thorpe, professor of pharmacology, says that radiation generates a chemical reaction in the membranes of endothelial cells, which line the blood vessels that feed tumours. The reaction causes membrane components called anionic phospholipids to flip inside out, exposing them, he says.



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Left-sided breast cancer radiation ups heart risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women with early-stage cancer of the left breast who are treated with radiation as a component of breast-sparing treatment, have an increased risk of developing radiation-related coronary damage, researchers report.

Nevertheless, "the benefits of radiation therapy for breast cancer still clearly outweigh the risks," Dr. Candace R. Correa told Reuters Health. "However," she added, "there may still be room for improvement in radiation techniques," when radiation is applied to the breast on the same side as the heart.

source article

Radiation to the Pelvis Reduces Relapses in Prostate Cancer

According to an article recently published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, radiation administered to the whole pelvis (whole-pelvic radiation) extends biochemical relapse-free survival (bRFS) compared with radiation directed just at the prostate and surrounding tissues among men with early prostate cancer who are at a high risk of developing a recurrence.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers diagnosed in men in the United States. Early prostate cancer refers to cancer that has not spread to distant sites in the body. Depending upon the extent of spread, patient age, aggressiveness of the cancer, and patient wishes, early (localized) prostate cancer may be treated with radiation therapy, watchful waiting (no therapy until disease progression), cryotherapy, surgery, and/or hormone therapy. A priority among healthcare providers is to utilize therapies that provide optimal outcomes with little or no impact on quality of life.

source article from Cancerconsultants.com

Radiation Therapy And Microsurgery- Hope For Injured Spinal Cords

Research in lab rats with crushed spinal cords, mimicking human injury, show that a treatment combining radiation therapy to destroy harmful cells and microsurgery to drain excess fluids , can lead to even a permanent recovery.

Since repair of damaged cord directly correlates with prevention of paralysis, this research demonstrates that conventional clinical procedures hold promise for preventing paralysis from spinal cord injuries.

Currently there is no cure for human spinal cord injury. Treatment after injury is largely limited to steroids administered to prevent further deterioration. “This research opens the door to developing a clinical protocol for curing human spinal cord injuries using conventional therapies,” said lead researcher Nurit Kalderon, Ph.D.

source article

New Radiation Therapy Treatment Developed for Head And Neck Cancer Patients

HELSINKI, FINLAND -- August 17, 2007 -- Most head-and-neck cancers that recur locally after prior full-dose conventional radiation therapy respond to Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT).

These results were obtained in a phase 1/2 study at the Helsinki University Hospital, Finland. The scientific director of the research program, professor Heikki Joensuu, University of Helsinki, considers the results clinically significant and very interesting. They open a new field for BNCT, since thus far BNCT has been evaluated only in the treatment of some brain tumours.

The follow-up results of 12 patients diagnosed with cancer of the head-and-neck and treated in a prospective clinical trial were reported in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology & Physics.

source article

Radiation Therapy And Microsurgery- Hope For Injured Spinal Cords

Research in lab rats with crushed spinal cords, mimicking human, show that a treatment combining radiation therapy to destroy harmful cells and microsurgery to drain excess fluids , can lead to even a permanent recovery.

Since repair of damaged cord directly correlates with prevention of, this research demonstrates that conventional clinical procedures hold promise for preventing paralysis from injuries .

Currently there is no cure for human spinal cord injury. Treatment after injury is largely limited to steroids administered to prevent further deterioration. “This research opens the door to developing a clinical protocol for curing human spinal cord injuries using conventional therapies,” said lead researcher Nurit Kalderon, Ph.D. Conducted at Sloan-Kettering Institute for in New York City, the research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

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Radiation to the Brain Should Become Standard Therapy for Extensive-disease Small Cell Lung Cancer

According to results recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, prophylactic cranial radiation following treatment with chemotherapy should now become a standard treatment option for patients with extensive-disease small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and Europe. There are two main types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer and non–small cell lung cancer. The distinction in lung cancer types often determines treatment options because each type responds differently to treatment. SCLC accounts for approximately 25% of lung cancers and is considered to be very fast growing.

Extensive-stage SCLC refers to cancer that has spread from the lung to different sites in the body. Current treatment options for SCLC include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Approximately two-thirds of patients diagnosed with SCLC have extensive-stage SCLC, and a significant portion of these patients ultimately develop cancer spread to the brain (brain metastasis).

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