ASTRO and ACR announce joint radiation oncology practice accreditation program

The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology and the American College of Radiology have announced a new partnership for radiation oncology practice accreditation that builds on the ACR's current successful program that has served as the industry standard for more than 20 years.

As a result of this collaboration, radiation oncology programs will have expanded access to this well established and efficient process of both self-assessment and independent external expert audit, based on nationally recognized guidelines, including ACR and ASTRO guidelines and technical standards, that assesses the qualifications of personnel, policies and procedures, equipment specifications, quality assurance (QA) activities, patient safety and ultimately the quality of patient care.

source: ASTRO

Radiation Before Surgery Improves Pancreatic Cancer Outcomes

NEW YORK (Nov. 25, 2008) — Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest and most difficult to treat cancers. Now, in a major step forward, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center have shown that administering radiation therapy prior to surgery nearly doubles survival in pancreatic cancer patients with operable tumors.

"Patients who received pre-surgical (neoadjuvant) radiation had almost double the overall survival compared with similar patients who didn't undergo radiation, and survived significantly longer than patients who received radiation after the tumor was removed," says the study's senior author, Dr. David Sherr, assistant professor of clinical radiation oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College, and a radiation oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

The findings are published in the Nov. 15 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics.

source: Weill Cornell Medical College

Varian Medical Systems Introducing OncoView™ - an Oncology Specific Image Management and Storage Solution

CHICAGO, Nov. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- RSNA Booth # 6221 -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) today is introducing a new product that makes it easier for clinicians to store, manage and view images generated during cancer treatments. Varian will showcase its new OncoView™ image management and storage solution at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting in Chicago, November 30 - December 4, 2008.

"OncoView provides oncology professionals with a reliable, scalable way of archiving and accessing the images and data that impact decisions about a patient's course of treatment," said Karla Knott, senior director of marketing for Varian's Oncology Systems business. "It is designed specifically to archive information covering the entire cancer treatment process from diagnosis to survivorship and follow-up."

Clinicians are using more images to make decisions and monitor progress over the course of cancer treatments. For image-guided radiotherapy, new images are generated at every step in the treatment process. "There is a vast -- and growing -- amount of images and related information that must be stored, and clinicians need a reliable system for easily archiving and instantly accessing this information in a meaningful way that is connected to the clinical "story line" for each patient," says Erwin Nell, manager, systems marketing. "OncoView addresses this need. It supports archiving of the most commonly used imaging modalities in oncology care, including CT, MR, PET, kV X-rays, cone-beam CT, and electronic portal images. It also stores non-imaging data, including radiotherapy treatment plans, dose levels, and other important treatment details."

source: Varian Medical Systems

Physicists Receive Patent for Improved Cancer Therapy Device; New Design Would Deliver More Precise Radiation Doses at Lower Cost

UPTON, N.Y., Nov. 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- Four physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have been awarded U.S. Patent No. 7,432,516 B2 for the design of a "medical synchrotron" capable of delivering precision doses of proton radiation to cancerous tumors with minimal damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The new device would be more precise and less costly than existing proton-therapy systems, potentially increasing the availability and benefits of this treatment for caner patients worldwide. The Brookhaven scientists are now seeking industrial partners to license and commercialize the technology.

"In the realm of cancer treatment, proton therapy is considered 'surgery without a knife' because proton beams can deliver cell-killing energy with extreme precision, unlike conventional x-ray radiation therapy," said Brookhaven physicist Stephen Peggs, one of the lead scientists on the project. Peggs, while working at DOE's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, witnessed the completion of the nation's first hospital-based proton-therapy synchrotron, installed at California's Loma Linda University Medical Center in 1990.

source: AScribe

Type Of Breast Reconstruction Impacts Radiation Therapy Outcomes

For breast cancer patients who underwent a mastectomy who undergo radiation therapy after immediate breast reconstruction, autologous tissue reconstruction provides fewer long-term complications and better cosmetic results than tissue expander and implant reconstruction, according to a study in the November issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

After undergoing a mastectomy (surgical removal of the breast), many women choose to have a breast reconstruction procedure performed immediately to better cope with the psychological and esthetic side effects of the surgery. However, the reconstruction can complicate radiation therapy treatments and sometimes radiation can negatively affect the outcome of reconstruction and increase the risk of long-term complications.

source: ASTRO

Radiation Delay Associated with Worse Outcome for Women with Localized Breast Cancer

Two recent studies have focused on the importance of timely and complete adjuvant radiation therapy in women with localized breast cancer. Researchers from Canada reported in an early online publication in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on November 17, 2008 that delaying radiation beyond 20 weeks adversely affects outcome in women with early-stage breast cancer not receiving chemotherapy.[1] Researchers from Cornell Medical College reported that women with early-stage breast cancer receiving suboptimal radiotherapy had worse outcomes. The details of this study appeared in the December, 2008 issue of Cancer.[2]

Researchers from Columbia University have previously reported that delay of adjuvant radiation of more than three months following a lumpectomy may increase local recurrences and affect survival among women with early breast cancer. Thus, women who undergo lumpectomy are advised to have radiation within three months of surgery.

source: CancerConsultants

Proton therapy may reduce serious side effect of lung cancer treatment

Patients with locally advanced lung cancer who receive chemotherapy and proton therapy, a specialized form a radiation therapy only available in a few centers in the United States, have fewer instances of a serious side effect called bone marrow toxicity than patients who receive chemotherapy and another type of radiation therapy called intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), according to a study presented at the 2008 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology, sponsored by ASTRO, ASCO, IASLC and the University of Chicago.

The standard of care for patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer is chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Unfortunately, these aggressive treatments can put patients at risk of a serious side effect called bone marrow toxicity that can lead to delayed or missed treatments, hospitalizations and growth problems.

source: GEN

Major advance in cancer radiotherapy

Radical improvements in outcome for many cancer sufferers are in prospect following one of the most significant advances in radiotherapy since x-rays were first used to treat a tumour in 1904. The use of charged particles as an alternative to x-ray or gamma ray radiation can extend the scope of radiotherapy to tumours previously requiring invasive surgery, while speeding up diagnosis and reducing collateral damage to surrounding tissue.

This fast emerging field of charged particle cancer therapy was thrashed out at a recent workshop organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF), which discussed new instruments that will lead to improvements in both diagnosis and treatment. Diagnosis and treatment are closely linked in radiotherapy, since more accurate location of tumour cells in turn enables the radiation dose to be more precisely focused.

source: European Science Foundation

TomoTherapy Completes Acquisition of Linear Accelerator Manufacturer in China

MADISON, Wis. (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) November 4, 2008 -- TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TOMO), maker of the Hi·Art® treatment system for advanced radiation therapy, announced today that it has finalized the agreement to acquire privately held linear accelerator manufacturer Chengdu Twin Peak Accelerator Technology Inc., based in Chengdu, China.

A linear accelerator (linac) is a key component in radiation therapy systems used to create high-energy x-rays for cancer treatments. The linear accelerators designed, developed and manufactured by Twin Peak will be used to supplement TomoTherapy’s existing supply source.

According to Steve Books, chief operating officer of TomoTherapy, “With the acquisition of Twin Peak, we are reducing our sole supplier risk associated with our linac supply, a critical component to the Hi∙Art treatment system. This acquisition will also expand TomoTherapy’s competency in design and manufacturing of linear accelerators which is expected to improve Hi·Art system reliability and positively impact margins.”

source: TomoTherapy

Study Shows Women With Breast Cancer Treated With Radiotherapy Using Tangential Fields Have Increased Risk Of Developing Cancer In The Other Breast

Women with breast cancer treated with radiotherapy using tangential fields - where radiation is directed at an angle to the breast - after lumpectomy show increased risk of breast cancer in the other breast, with an even higher risk in younger women and in those with family members who have had breast cancer, warns a study.

Women who have had breast cancer have a three to four times higher risk of developing a new primary cancer in their other breast (contralateral breast cancer), compared with the risk of a first primary breast cancer in other women. This increased risk could be due to a common cause for the tumours in both breasts, such as a genetic tendency to breast cancer or hormonal risk factors.

source: Medical News Today