TomoTherapy to Install Hi·Art® System at Leading Veterinary Medical School

MADISON, Wis – March 27, 2008 – TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TOMO) announced today plans to install its advanced radiation therapy system at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. Upon completion of installation, this will be the first TomoTherapy® Hi·Art® treatment system in the world to be used for veterinary medicine.

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle recently signed a bill that authorizes construction of a new school wing, where the Hi·Art treatment system will be installed. The goal is for construction to begin in the fall of 2008, with treatments starting in late 2009 or early 2010.

The technology has come full circle. The UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine was involved with the first TomoTherapy SM clinical trials, which involved treating pet dogs with nasal tumors (especially sensitive to treat because they are close to the dog’s eyes and brain).

source: TomoTherapy

Differences in IMRT Radiation Doses May Complicate Study Results in Lung Cancer

Differences between the prescribed dose of radiation in intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and the dose that’s actually delivered may make comparison studies in lung cancer difficult to interpret. These findings were reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Radiation therapy is often used in the treatment of various forms of cancer. Radiation therapy uses beams of radiation to slow or stop cancer cell growth, which shrinks or eliminates the tumor.

Intensity modulated radiation therapy is an advanced radiation technique that uses computers to control the devices that deliver precise radiation doses to malignant tumors or specific areas of the tumor.

source and copyright: Cancer Consultants.com

ProCure Training and Development Center for Proton Therapy Opens

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ProCure Treatment Centers, Inc. today is celebrating the grand opening of the ProCure Training and Development Center (TDC), the first facility in the world dedicated to proton therapy training.

“We are honored to have ProCure Treatment Centers, the leader in development and training for proton therapy, headquartered here,” said Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan. “We are living in a proton savvy city that is now home to the only training facility of its kind. The Training and Development Center will bring medical professionals from across the country to Bloomington.”

The TDC will provide hands-on training for radiation oncologists, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists and other staff involved in proton therapy treatment. The facility offers clinical, technical, interpersonal and administrative training that simulates all aspects of proton therapy treatment in a replica of a proton therapy treatment center featuring everything but the actual protons.

source: Business Wire

New Compact Proton Radiotherapy Device Designed with SolidWorks

CONCORD, Mass.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—March 24, 2008— Still River Systems, a Littleton, Mass. company, is using SolidWorks(R) 3D CAD software to develop a new compact and affordable proton radiotherapy treatment device.

Unlike conventional X-ray based radiation therapy systems, Still River Systems' Monarch 250(TM) uses proton beam for radiotherapy. Proton beam radiotherapy employs a particle accelerator device that uses electric fields to propel electrically charged particles to high speeds and then contain and shape them to output a highly focused proton beam toward a precisely defined target. This technology can sharply reduce damage to healthy tissue by precisely focusing the radiation dose to the tumor. Proton radiotherapy is especially valuable in critical structures of the body like the eye, brain, base of the skull, spine, and prostate. It also limits radiation exposure for safe treatment of children.

source: MCADCafe.com

Zapping Cancer Cells with Accuracy

Put in the eyes. Take out the spinal cord. Rotate his head. For cancer specialist Dr G. Selvaratnam and his team of medical experts, these are daily preoccupations.

They twist and turn a patient's vital organs, studying the whole make-up from every imaginable direction to pinpoint the exact location of cancer cells.

It's a procedure even the faint-hearted would appreciate because it's done virtually.

The gadget which makes this and much more possible, is the RM14-million Trilogy Linear Accelerator (TLA) , which sits behind six-inch walls in the NCI Cancer Hospital in Nilai, Negri Sembilan.

article at: NST Online

RCR welcomes START, showing that fewer fractions of radiotherapy work for breast cancer treatment

LONDON, UK - (HealthTech Wire) - The Royal College of Radiologists welcomes the latest results from the Standardisation of Breast Radiotherapy Trial (START), which has found that radiotherapy treatment for breast cancer can now be given in fewer treatments than the international standard of 25 fractions. Local recurrence in the breast has reduced markedly over the last 10 years and now only affects one woman in 25. This is due to improved cancer care and quality assurance. In addition radiotherapy side effects are now less marked.

Professor Andy Adam, President of the Royal College of Radiologists said, “START represents the culmination of twenty years of study conducted by researchers from the UK, and as such is an important milestone in radiotherapy research. It shows that treatment for women with breast cancer can be given in a quicker and more convenient way, and it has the potential to improve the treatment of breast cancer patients across the world.”

source: Health Tech Wire

Varian Announces Global Clinical Council to Develop RapidArc(TM) Cancer Treatments

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical
Systems (NYSE: VAR) has formed a council of leading cancer centers in North
America and Europe to further the development of clinical protocols using
its revolutionary RapidArc(TM) radiotherapy technology for fast and precise
cancer treatments. RapidArc makes it possible to deliver advanced
image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) two to eight
times faster than is possible with conventional IMRT or helical
tomotherapy.

The RapidArc council members include researchers and scientists from
the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Rigshospitalet
in Copenhagen, Denmark; CRLC Val d'Aurelle in Montpellier, France;
University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland; BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver,
Canada; University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center
in Baltimore, USA; and University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

PR Newswire

Fewer but bigger treatments best for breast cancer

Alison Motluk

Where radiation and breast cancer are concerned, less may be better. That's according to two studies involving thousands of women followed for half a decade. The women were given fewer doses -- but stronger ones.

Radiation therapy is a fine art. Doctors need to administer enough to eradicate the cancer, but in sufficiently small doses that normal healthy tissue isn't compromised. The current internationally accepted standard for treating early breast cancer is to give 50 Gray of radiation in 25 separate "fractions", of 2 Gray each, over five weeks.

The two new studies challenge that. In one, dubbed START A, John Yarnold at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, UK and colleagues recruited 2236 women with early breast cancer from 17 centres around the UK.

source and complete article: New Scientist

UWE first in UK to install radiotherapy training tool

A revolutionary new tool to help train radiotherapy radiographers has just been installed at the University of the West of England. The Vertual (sic) Linear Accelerator (VLA) will enable students to develop technical skills in a virtual setting before they go onto clinical placements. UWE is the first university in the UK to install this version of a virtual linear accelerator and will be the only university in the South West to house this resource. VLAs will be installed in 10 Universities throughout the UK as part of a £5m Department of Health initiative, detailed in the Cancer Reform Strategy, in response to a predicted increase in the need for radiotherapy radiographers to treat cancer in an aging population as identified by the National Radiotherapy Advisory Group (NRAG).

A linear accelerator (LA) is the main tool used by radiotherapy radiographers to deliver doses of radiotherapy to tumours. As these tools are in constant operation in oncology units it is becoming more challenging to allocate sufficient time for students to learn and practise the requisite technical skills prior to practice.

source: University of the West of England

Balloon-Catheter Brachytherapy an Alternative to Whole-Breast Radiation for Early Breast Cancer: Presented at SSO

CHICAGO -- March 17, 2008 -- Patients with early breast cancer who are treated by balloon-catheter brachytherapy (BCB) as an alternative to whole-breast radiation therapy (WBRT) after breast conservation surgery show good to excellent cosmesis up to 5 years after treatment, reports a study presented here March 17 at the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) 61st Annual Cancer Symposium.

This study builds on earlier reports that have shown BCB to be similar to WBRT in terms of recurrence rates, cosmesis, and patient satisfaction.

source: DC Channel

FDA Clears Expanded Use of Xoft's Axxent(R) Electronic Brachytherapy System for all Radiation Therapy Indications

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Xoft, Inc., today announced that it has received expanded clearance from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for the Axxent(R) Electronic Brachytherapy System, a proprietary technology platform designed to deliver localized, non-radioactive, isotope-free radiation treatment in minimally-shielded clinical settings. Previously cleared for accelerated treatment of early stage breast cancer, the Axxent System is now cleared for use in the
treatment of other cancers or conditions where radiation therapy is indicated.

As a platform technology, the Axxent Electronic Brachytherapy System is designed to address a variety of oncological and non-oncological indications. Xoft is actively working to extend the use of Electronic Brachytherapy to endometrial and rectal indications, which are pending FDAclearance.

source: PR Newswire

Radiation method an alternative option for early breast cancer

CARRIE MACMILLAN REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

It took 23 days for Southbury resident Marilyn Robbins to treat her Stage 0 breast cancer.

Mostly, she has an early diagnosis by mammogram to thank for her health, but her doctor's use of a new radiation method cut her treatment to one-sixth of the time of traditional radiation.

Robbins, a 51-year-old mother of two and an accountant, underwent MammoSite targeted radiation at New Milford Hospital.Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2002, MammoSite is for women 45 and older with Stage 1 or early Stage 2 breast cancer that has not spread to surrounding tissue or lymph nodes

read complete article at: Republican American

Lymphoma Patients Benefit From Combined PET-CT Scanning

ScienceDaily (Mar. 15, 2008) — Combined positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) imaging of lymphoma patients is a more effective method to evaluate response to radiation therapy, and may help patients avoid unnecessary follow-up treatments, a study by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) suggests.

The clinical study is the first to show the advantage of combined PET-CT imaging in evaluating radioimmunotherapy for patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, says Gary Ulaner, M.D., Ph.D., radiology resident and nuclear medicine fellow at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the principal investigator of the study.


source: ScienceDaily

ARTISTE to premiere at Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has placed the first UK order of the ARTISTE™ Solution from Siemens. ARTISTE is an integrated imaging, treatment and workflow solution engineered specifically for adaptive radiation therapy (ART). It ensures high-precision dose delivered directly to the tumour whilst sparing healthy tissue.

ARTISTE is also the world's first totally integrated 3D MVision™ Megavoltage and 3D kVision™ Kilovoltage In-Line Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) system. Tumour size and shape can be closely monitored, enabling precise radiation treatment delivery for the best quality care. It will provide a high standard of comfort to patients during treatment and maximise throughput when the new radiotherapy department opens its doors in Spring 2009.

source: medicexchange

Some question value of proton-beam therapy for some cancers

Proton-beam therapy, a form of megavoltage radiation therapy, has been suggested to be effective in some prostate and pediatric cancers because it causes less damage to surrounding tissues while directing high dosages at tumors.

Dr. Frank Vicini, William Beaumont Hospitals' medical director of oncology services, said there is no debate among radiation oncologists that proton-beam therapy is superior to photon-based intensity modulated radiation therapy, which is used by Beaumont and Karmanos, among others.

source: Crains Detroit Business

Breast intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) reduces skin side-effects of radiotherapy in early breast cancer

Breast intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) - a technique that delivers radiation equally throughout the breast tissue and avoids radiation 'hot spots' in which some areas of the breast receive higher doses than others - reduces the skin side-effects that commonly occur with standard radiation therapy, according to a study in women with early breast cancer.

Women with early-stage breast cancer are generally treated with breast-conserving surgery, or lumpectomy, which minimises the amount of breast tissue removed, followed by radiation therapy to the whole breast. Clinical studies have shown that this treatment approach is associated with a low risk of the cancer returning (recurrence) while maintaining the shape of the breast as much as possible. It provides an effective alternative approach to mastectomy, in which the breast is completely removed.

source: Cancer Medic Service

Mobetron Makes Groundbreaking Radiation Therapy Technique a Reality for Japanese Breast Cancer Patients

Nagoya University Hospital joins the European Institute of Oncology in making single-dose intraoperative electron-beam radiation therapy (IOERT) a key part of their breast cancer treatment protocol

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — IntraOp Medical Corporation (OTCBB: IOPM), announced today that doctors at Nagoya University Hospital in Nagoya, Japan, are now using the Mobetron to deliver intraoperative electron-beam radiation therapy (IOERT) to breast cancer patients. The Mobetron allows Nagoya University Hospital to employ the groundbreaking single-dose technique, a treatment that offers substantial physiological and psychological benefits to breast cancer patients.

Nagoya University Hospital acquired the Mobetron, IntraOp Medical's mobile, self-shielding linear accelerator, in October, 2006. Nagoya University has had a long and distinguished history of using IOERT through patient transportation, particularly for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

source: centredaily.com

Doctors at Penn Medicine symposium praise proton radiation as a cancer treatment

By DAVID ROGERS

Sometimes it takes a really big machine to produce thousands of small miracles.

Next year, a 220-ton particle accelerator — shipped from Belgium in January — will go online at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center. When opened, the Roberts Proton Therapy Center will be the sixth such facility in the country, the only one in the mid-Atlantic region and the largest in the world.

Most important to cancer patients, the massive device will be the driving engine for five treatment rooms — where oncologists will use proton radiation to treat 3,000 cases of cancer a year. Traditional radiation therapy goes through a tumor, damaging normal tissue behind it, according to the proton therapy center director, Dr. Stephen Hahn.

source article: PalmBeachDailyNews.com

Higher Doses of Radiation Urged for Higher-Risk Prostate Cancer: Presented at NCCN

By Ed Susman

HOLLYWOOD, Fla -- March 7, 2008 -- Patients undergoing radiation therapy for treatment of intermediate- to high-risk prostate cancer should receive higher doses of radiation than those used for low-risk prostate cancer, and should be treated with conformal radiation or intensity-modulated radiation therapy.

Doctors suggested that radiation doses of 70 to 79 Gy are sufficient to treat individuals with low-risk prostate cancer, and radiation therapy to the lymph nodes can be avoided in these patients. Androgen deprivation therapy is also unnecessary for these men, said Michael R. Kuettel, MD, PhD, Professor and Chairman, Radiation Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Biophysics, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York.

complete article at: Doctors Guide

ProCure Treatment Centers Partners With Beaumont Hospitals for First Proton Beam Therapy Center in Michigan

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ProCure Treatment Centers Inc. and Beaumont Hospitals have announced an agreement to invest $159 million in Michigan to develop the state’s first proton beam therapy center. The center is expected to be operational by 2010. Beaumont filed a Certificate of Need application on March 3 with the state’s Department of Community Health for approval to develop the facility.

“We are partnering with Beaumont because of its reputation as one of the premier radiation oncology centers in the country,” says Hadley Ford, CEO of ProCure Treatment Centers Inc.

“By partnering with ProCure, we are able to combine its expertise in developing proton therapy centers with Beaumont’s clinical excellence to bring this life-saving technology to cancer patients as cost effectively and quickly as possible,” says Kenneth Matzick, president and CEO, Beaumont Hospitals.

- BusinessWire source

Move advances to bar new radiation centers in state

The Minnesota Senate voted today to make permanent a two-year moratorium against the construction of new radiation treatment facilities in 14 counties including the Twin Cities area.

A companion bill still is being considered by the state House of Representatives.

Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, said a permanent moratorium is needed because Minnesota already has more than enough capacity for providing radiation treatments to cancer patients. Radiation centers cost about $5 million to build, she said, and $1 million per year to operate — costs that would be passed on to public and private health plans.

source: TwinCities.com

Radioactive Monoclonal Antibody Therapy Shows Promise in Glioblastoma Multiforme and Astrocytoma

Researchers from Duke University have reported promising results for the administration of 131 I-labeled murine antitenascin monoclonal antibody 81C6 (131I-81C6) into the surgical resection cavity of patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) or anaplastic astrocytoma when given with external beam radiotherapy and temozoloide (Temodar®). The details of this pilot study appeared in an early online publication on February 20, 2008 in Neuro-Oncology.

Glioblastoma multiforme is one of the most common and fatal types of primary brain cancer. Patients with GBM typically have a poor prognosis, and treatment is usually palliative. The standard initial treatment for patients with GBM is surgery followed by radiation therapy.

source: CancerConsultants.com

PET/CT Planning Beneficial for Head and Neck Cancer Patients

Newswise — Using a combination of positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography for radiation therapy treatment planning in head and neck carcinoma patients provides for excellent, local and regional disease control when compared to CT alone, according to a study in the March 1 issue of the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

CT has been the traditional choice for staging and radiation therapy treatment planning for head and neck squamous cell carcinomas, which account for approximately 5 percent of malignancies worldwide; but PET has been shown to have advantages over CT and other imaging modalities in detecting primary tumors, involved lymph nodes and distant metastatic disease not clearly otherwise identified.

source: Newswise

SAVI Breast Brachytherapy Provides Better Dose Control, Study Finds

- Physicians at 21st Century Oncology, Inc., a leading developer and operator of radiation therapy centers, recently presented research on their use of the SAVI(TM) applicator for breast brachytherapy. The scientific poster presented at the 25th Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference found that SAVI applicator's superior dose control resulted in a low rate of toxicities, especially skin reactions.

The poster presented by lead researcher Constantine Mantz, M.D., a radiation oncologist at 21st Century, was recognized as one of the top three presentations at the conference.

SAVI is a single-entry, multi-catheter device that delivers radiation as part of breast conservation therapy. It is the only accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) single-entry device that can customize the dose according to patient-specific anatomy.

source: PR Inside.com

Innovative treatment capitalizes on unique qualities of short-lived radioisotope to prolong lives of brain tumor patients

RESTON, VA, USA - (HealthTech Wire) - In a study to determine safe dosages of the isotope astatine-211 for treating patients with recurring brain tumors, researchers were pleasantly surprised to find that not only was the isotope's potency sufficient to kill residual cancer cells without damaging sensitive healthy brain cells, but the patients experienced longer survival rates.

"Astatine-211 has as much as five times or more cell-killing efficiency than the standard treatments of external beam radiation or beta-particle injection," said Michael R. Zalutsky, professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

source: HealthTech Wire