iCAD Completes Acquisition of Xoft, Inc.

NASHUA, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--iCAD, Inc. (NASDAQ:ICAD), an industry-leading provider of advanced image analysis and workflow solutions for the early identification of cancer, has completed the previously announced acquisition of Xoft, Inc., developer of the Axxent® eBx™ electronic brachytherapy system. The portable Axxent System, which delivers electronically-controlled radiation therapy directly to cancer sites with minimal radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue, is FDA-cleared for the treatment of early stage breast cancer, endometrial cancer and skin cancer, and for the treatment of other cancers or conditions where radiation therapy is indicated. Xoft’s Axxent technology is approved for accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI), which can be delivered twice daily for five days or it can be administered immediately following the lumpectomy procedure in only a few minutes with one course of therapy, also known as Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT).

“Our new combined company is well positioned for long-term growth and to accelerate the adoption of new standards of care in oncology”

“Our new combined company is well positioned for long-term growth and to accelerate the adoption of new standards of care in oncology,” said Ken Ferry, President and CEO of iCAD. “By combining our innovative solutions, iCAD and Xoft can empower clinicians to improve patient outcomes through collaborative delivery of more targeted cancer detection, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring.”

In the third quarter of 2010, the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) applied for a Category 1 CPT procedure code for single fraction (one dose) Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT). Numerous clinical studies, including the landmark TARGIT-A trial published in The Lancet in June 2010, have supported this treatment option.

source: BusinessWire

Photons vs. Protons For Treatment Of Spinal Cord Gliomas

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A study comparing the long-term outcomes of patients with spinal-cord tumors following radiation therapy suggests that certain subsets of patients have better long-term survival. It also suggests that photon-based radiation therapy may result in better survival than proton-beam therapy, even in patients with more favorable characteristics.

This is the first study to report the long-term outcomes of spinal-cord tumor patients treated by modern radiotherapy techniques, the researchers say. Gliomas, which represent most spinal cord tumors, develop in about 17,000 Americans annually, and 13,000 die from them.

“Our findings need to be verified in a larger number of patients, but they suggest that individuals younger than age 54, those with ependymomas and those treated with photon-based therapy versus proton-beam treatment have better overall survival,” says principal investigator Dr. Arnab Chakravarti, chair and professor of Radiation Oncology and co-director of the Brain Tumor Program at The Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

source: OSU Medical Center

UC HEALTH LINE: Outpatient Lung Cancer Treatment Can Cure Certain Patients

(Media-Newswire.com) - Cincinnati—Many patients with early-stage lung cancers are candidates for a new radiation-only treatment regimen that rarely has side effects and results in a cure in up to 80 percent of patients who have had it.

Stereotactic radiation therapy—also known as focal radiation therapy—is a highly targeted way of delivering radiation to treat cancerous tumors. The technique allows radiation oncologists to deliver radiation from multiple directions—essentially attacking the tumor from 360 degrees. Although it is most often used to treat brain tumors, three-year data from the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group has shown the approach is also an effective alternative to surgery in certain early-stage lung cancers.

"Focal radiation therapy precisely aims radiation at the tumor tissue from approximately 12 directions versus two or three, so surrounding tissue only gets a fraction of the radiation exposure. This helps protect otherwise healthy tissue,” explains William Barrett, MD, medical director for the UC Health Barrett Cancer Center and chair of radiation oncology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

UC Health’s radiation oncology team has applied focal radiation therapy treatment to approximately 60 patients with early-stage lung cancers since 2004. Barrett says approximately 80 percent of local patients have remained cancer-free two years post treatment with focal therapy alone.

source: Media-newswire

Calypso Medical and Elekta Corporation Enter into Master Development Agreement for Radiation Therapy Cancer Treatment

SEATTLE & STOCKHOLM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Calypso Medical Technologies, Inc., a developer of real-time localization technology used for the precise tracking of tumors, and Elekta, a leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer, today announced a master development agreement to jointly develop products integrating the Calypso® System with Elekta’s radiotherapy treatment technologies.

“Integrating the Calypso System into Elekta’s world-class radiotherapy technologies may facilitate the development of innovative treatment modalities for treating prostate cancer along with more problematic radiation therapy targets, such as the pancreas and lung,” said Edward Vertatschitsch, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Calypso Medical. “Near term development efforts include creating connectivity between the linear accelerator and the Calypso System for patient positioning during radiation delivery, which automates the process of re-positioning the treatment couch when the tumor moves out of a prescribed motion threshold. This agreement will also provide the framework for the potential development of real-time automated correction, a future capability* with feasibility work already in progress at both companies, which enables motion management with the tumor target based on real-time tracking data provided by the Calypso System.”

“Clinicians around the world, including The Royal Marsden in London, the world’s first medical center dedicated to cancer treatment, are utilizing the Calypso System with our linear accelerators to optimize treatment for prostate cancer patients,” said Jill Stief, Director, Product Management, Oncology Systems at Elekta. “Effectively accounting for tumor motion may lead to improved treatment outcomes and patient quality-of-life.”

source: Calypso Medical

ASTRO patient website earns Web Health Award

Fairfax, Va., December 15, 2010 – The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has received a 2010 Web Health Award for its patient-geared website, www.rtanswers.org.

The Web Health Awards is a national competition that recognizes high-quality electronic health information. Over 500 entries were submitted for the 2010 competition from a variety of health care professionals nationwide. The winners were selected by a panel of national electronic health information experts.

This year, ASTRO received a bronze award for RT Answers, a site designed specifically for cancer patients and their families, friends and caregivers. RT Answers began in 2004 as a way to explain to cancer patients and their families and friends how radiation therapy is used to treat cancer safely and effectively. Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be frightening and confusing, so physicians and other members of the radiation therapy treatment team created RT Answers as a one-stop site where patients can receive radiation therapy information.

source: ASTRO

Non-invasive SRT as good as surgery for elderly patients with early lung cancer

A new study shows that a new type of targeted radiation therapy called stereotactic radiation therapy is just as good as surgery for patients aged 75 and older with early-stage lung cancer, according to research presented at the 2010 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology. This symposium is sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (ISLAC) and the University of Chicago.

In this study, researchers compared two treatments for early lung cancer in elderly patients: surgery and stereotactic radiation. Surgery has been the standard treatment for decades, but some oncologists now feel that stereotactic radiation may be as good and are studying it in trials around the world. Stereotactic radiation therapy, sometimes called radiosurgery, refers to a single or several very targeted radiation therapy treatments. Brand names for stereotactic radiation include Axesse, CyberKnife, Gamma Knife, Novalis, Primatom, Synergy, X-Knife, TomoTherapy or Trilogy.

For this trial, researchers looked back at elderly patients with early lung cancer treated in North Holland between 2005 and 2007. They found that there were no differences in the long-term survival for patients treated with either treatment but that surgery had a higher risk of death in the first 30 days.

source: EurekAlert

Cancer Treatment Centers’ Oncology Information System Options Expand with New MOSAIQ Connectivity

Customers using Elekta’s MOSAIQ® oncology information system (OIS) experience success with seamless integration to Varian’s TrueBeam™ system for radiation therapy delivery. The MOSAIQ interface to this linear accelerator is the most recent example of exceptional connectivity between Elekta’s premier OIS and the delivery systems of other cancer management equipment providers, including Siemens and TomoTherapy, and particle therapy vendors such as Hitachi and IBA.

“Creating a seamless link between MOSAIQ and TrueBeam is consistent with Elekta’s philosophy of open systems connectivity that has endured for 20 years,” says Todd Powell, Executive Vice President, Elekta Software. “MOSAIQ provides unsurpassed safety, functionality and interoperability, meeting our clinicians’ highest expectations and providing the most comprehensive information medium for excellent patient care.”

The MOSAIQ OIS streamlines medical oncology and radiation oncology workflow from the first encounter, through diagnosis and staging, planning, treatment and long-term follow-up. At the heart of MOSAIQ is the image-enabled electronic medical record (EMR) by which healthcare professionals communicate information about their patients throughout the continuum of cancer care.

source: Elekta

Non-Invasive Stereotactic Radiation Therapy As Good As Surgery For Elderly Patients With Early Lung Cancer

A new study shows that a new type of targeted radiation therapy called stereotactic radiation therapy is just as good as surgery for patients aged 75 and older with early-stage lung cancer, according to research presented at the 2010 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology. This symposium is sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (ISLAC) and the University of Chicago.

In this study, researchers compared two treatments for early lung cancer in elderly patients: surgery and stereotactic radiation. Surgery has been the standard treatment for decades, but some oncologists now feel that stereotactic radiation may be as good and are studying it in trials around the world. Stereotactic radiation therapy, sometimes called radiosurgery, refers to a single or several very targeted radiation therapy treatments. Brand names for stereotactic radiation include Axesse, CyberKnife, Gamma Knife, Novalis, Primatom, Synergy, X-Knife, TomoTherapy or Trilogy.

For this trial, researchers looked back at elderly patients with early lung cancer treated in North Holland between 2005 and 2007. They found that there were no differences in the long-term survival for patients treated with either treatment but that surgery had a higher risk of death in the first 30 days.

source: ASTRO

Elekta Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for XiO Software to Plan Spot Scanning for Proton Therapy

Elekta recently received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its XiO® treatment planning software to plan spot scanning. Spot scanning is a proton therapy delivery method that involves constructing a highly conformal dose to the tumor by using thousands of small individual beamlets instead of a single large beam. This approach enables Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT).

XiO, Elekta’s 3D / Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) treatment planning platform, offers proton therapy centers another option to plan proton deliveries. XiO provides unique tools to facilitate rapid positioning of spots to construct the dose to the tumor, in addition to a proven dose calculation algorithm to optimize each beam.

“The completely automated optimization of the spot deliveries allows clinicians to produce treatment plans with a high degree of conformality around the target, therefore, minimizing the dose to adjacent healthy tissue,” says Virgil Willcut, Vice President of Product Management, Physics & Research for Elekta Treatment Planning. “Spot scanning especially is important for pediatric patients since it provides better normal tissue sparing and lower neutron doses than conventional proton planning, both of which reduce the chance of radiation induced side effects for a cohort of patients that are still developing and have long life expectancies.”

source: Elekta

TomoTherapy and NELCO Partner to Reduce Radiation Therapy Construction Costs

MADISON, WI, Nov 23, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- TomoTherapy Incorporated /quotes/comstock/15*!tomo/quotes/nls/tomo (TOMO 3.53, 0.00, 0.00%) , maker of advanced radiation therapy solutions for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, today announced availability of a shielding solution that enables hospitals and cancer centers to quickly, easily and inexpensively build out treatment vaults that are properly shielded for use of the TomoTherapy(R) radiation therapy system. The Total Shield(TM) by NELCO, the worldwide leader in designing, manufacturing, and installing specialized products and services for the medical, industrial, and construction fields, is a customized shielding enclosure designed to fit around a TomoTherapy unit, making it possible for the radiation therapy system to be placed into existing under-shielded vaults or other treatment rooms where there may not be enough space to install necessary shielding using the existing infrastructure.

Total Shield provides hospitals and cancer centers with the flexibility to put the TomoTherapy system in an existing space, which may be too small or may not include enough shielding for modern intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) devices. Instead of adding shielding in the walls, the Total Shield enclosure is designed to wrap around the TomoTherapy system itself.

By taking this approach, TomoTherapy customers can potentially save hundreds of thousands of dollars in shielding costs and eliminate the months it takes to install conventional shielding solutions. Total Shield can be installed in just a matter of days. Additionally, because the Total Shield can be easily removed, it can be reused if the TomoTherapy system is eventually moved to a new location.

source: TomoTherapy

Smoking during radiation therapy for head and neck cancers linked to poorer outcomes

Smokers who don’t quit before radiation therapy for throat, mouth and other head and neck cancers fair significantly worse than those who do, research from the UC Davis Cancer Center has found.

Allen Chen, an assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the UC Davis Cancer Center, found that head- and neck-cancer patients who continue to smoke during radiation therapy have poorer 5-year overall survival and higher rates of disease recurrence than those who quit smoking prior to treatment.

The study, published online recently in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, should help oncologists counsel patients about the benefits of quitting smoking after a diagnosis of head and neck cancer, said Chen, lead author of the study.

“I always tell patients, ‘You should really stop smoking,’ but I had no tangible evidence to use to convince them that they would be worse off if they continued to smoke,” Chen said. “I wanted concrete data to see if smoking was detrimental in terms of curability, overall survival and tolerability of treatment. We showed continued tobacco smoking contributed to negative outcomes with regard to all of those.”

Chen and colleagues reviewed medical records of 101 patients with newly diagnosed squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck who continued to smoke during radiation therapy, and matched those patients to others who had quit prior to starting radiation therapy for their head and neck cancers.

source: UC Davis Cancer Center

Aluminium-Containing Antiperspirants Do Not Cause Adverse Skin Reactions During Radiation Therapy: Presented at ASTRO

By Ed Susman

SAN DIEGO -- November 4, 2010 -- Women who undergo radiation therapy for breast cancer probably can belay fears that use of aluminium-containing antiperspirants will cause skin reactions or that the aluminium will increase the amount of radiation women receive.

The research was presented here on November 1 at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

The research team enrolled 198 women who were planning on receiving radiotherapy and told half the women to use the antiperspirants which often contain aluminium compounds and told the other half of the women to use standard care (wash only).

The researchers wanted to test whether use of these products were responsible for anecdotal concerns that the metallic content of the products produced greater erythema that non-use of the products. But what they found was no difference between the women who used the products and those that did not.

There was no increase in the intensity of the transient sunburn-like skin reactions that most people experience during radiation treatment among women using antiperspirants.

source: Doctors Guide

Varian Medical Systems Receives 510(k) Clearance for Acuros® XB Advanced Dose Calculation Algorithm for Planning Radiotherapy and Radiosurgery

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 1 , 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ASTRO Booth # 201 -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) has received FDA 510(k) clearance for the Acuros® XB advanced dose calculation algorithm which can complete a RapidArc® treatment plan two to three times faster than conventional planning algorithms. Varian has incorporated the Acuros algorithm for external beam radiotherapy treatment planning into its market-leading Eclipse™ treatment planning system on exhibit at the 52nd annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in San Diego October 31 - November 4.

The Acuros dose calculation algorithm is designed for planning complex cases quickly and easily. It is particularly beneficial for planning sophisticated treatments in areas like the lungs or sinuses, where tissue density varies. It is also ideal for planning treatments that require many beam angles, including RapidArc radiotherapy and radiosurgery, which deliver beams continually from all angles as the treatment machine rotates around the patient.

source: Varian

Varian Medical Systems and IMRIS to Co-Develop Revolutionary New MR-Guided Radiation Therapy System

PALO ALTO, Calif. and WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems, Inc., (NYSE: VAR) ("Varian") and IMRIS Inc. (TSX: IM) ("IMRIS") have concluded an agreement to co-develop an innovative new MR-guided radiation therapy system for use in treating a variety of cancers.

Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will develop a solution that combines IMRIS's proprietary MR imaging technology with Varian's recently introduced TrueBeam™ system, to enable the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) during radiotherapy treatments for cancer. Launched in April 2010, Varian's TrueBeam system for radiotherapy and radiosurgery offers unprecedented speed and accuracy and has the ability to deliver treatments up to 50 per cent faster, with a dose delivery rate of up to double the maximum of earlier, industry-leading Varian systems.

MR is the gold standard for soft tissue imaging. By leveraging IMRIS's proprietary technology and integrating the exquisite detail of MR imaging with the extensive treatment delivery capabilities of the TrueBeam system, the two companies expect to enhance the effectiveness of radiation therapy.

"We are seeking to augment physicians' ability to target cancerous tissue very precisely, even in areas of the body that are difficult to image," said Dow Wilson, president of Varian's Oncology Systems business. "Many studies have shown that increased treatment accuracy can reduce the impact on healthy tissues around a targeted tumor."

source: PR Newswire

Calypso Medical Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for Dynamic Edge Gating Technology

SEATTLE—Oct. 7, 2010—Calypso Medical Technologies, Inc., a developer of real-time localization technology used for the precise tracking of tumors, today announced it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market the Calypso® System with Dynamic Edge(tm) Gating Technology. This latest innovation of the Calypso System automates the response to organ motion that occurs during the delivery of radiation to prostate cancer tumors in order to protect healthy tissue from unintended radiation. As a result, this technology may enable a further decrease in the side effects associated with prostate radiotherapy, such as bowel and bladder incontinence and sexual dysfunction.

The Calypso System, with its GPS for the Body® technology, utilizes miniature implanted Beacon® transponders to provide precise, continuous information on the location of the tumor during external beam radiation therapy. The real-time position information provided by the Calypso System allows physicians to deliver maximum radiation directly to the tumor while sparing the surrounding healthy tissues and organs from exposure. The new gating technology allows therapists to set motion thresholds which automatically signal radiation delivery to be stopped each time the targeted tissue moves outside the preset threshold. Previously the Calypso System, which provides target position information in the form of objective data, relied upon the therapist to manually intervene and halt radiation delivery when healthy tissue was in danger of receiving unintended radiation.

source: Calypso Medical

Elekta Launches ABAS 2.0 Autosegmentation Software Used to Plan Radiation Therapy in Patients with Cancer

GPU calculations increase contouring speed by as much as 50 percent

Elekta recently launched ABAS (Atlas-based Autosegmentation) 2.0 software, which includes the Simultaneous Truth and Performance Level Estimation (STAPLE) algorithm to increase contouring accuracy. ABAS—considered the industry gold standard for autosegmentation accuracy—deforms atlases of anatomy previously defined on a reference image onto a new patient image, creating a new structure set fit to the patient anatomy and enhancing planning efficiency.

“The STAPLE algorithm allows multiple atlases to be calculated against a single patient,” says Randy Larson, ABAS product manager. “The benefit is increased accuracy because the user is achieving the best result for each contour based on multiple sources. ABAS 2.0 also uses a graphics processor unit [GPU], which increases contouring speed by up to 50 percent. In addition, this release includes an improved user interface featuring new tools and functionality, as well as full DICOM service, to enhance workflow and file maintenance.”

With its deformable registration algorithms, ABAS saves physician and dosimetrist time by automatically contouring new image sets based on anatomy defined in the atlas. Users may further edit and refine the new image sets.

source: Elekta

Varian Medical Systems Spotlights TrueBeam Treatment System for First Time in Europe at ESTRO 2010, September 12-16, Barcelona

BARCELONA, Spain, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) is spotlighting its new TrueBeam™ medical linear accelerator for fast, powerful and efficient cancer treatments at the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology exhibition in Barcelona next week. A fully-featured TrueBeam system will be the centerpiece of Varian's booth at the annual ESTRO meeting (Booth No. 320).

TrueBeam uses a multitude of technical innovations to dynamically synchronize imaging, patient positioning, motion management, and treatment delivery. Designed to be a best-in-class and versatile platform, TrueBeam can be used for all forms of advanced external-beam radiotherapy including image-guided radiotherapy and radiosurgery (IGRT and IGRS), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and RapidArc® radiotherapy. The product line includes TrueBeam STx, specially configured for advanced radiosurgery.

With its high intensity mode, TrueBeam can deliver doses at up to 2400 MU/min, more than twice as fast as any other machine for either radiotherapy or radiosurgery. Planning of such rapid treatments is fully supported in the latest version of Varian's Eclipse™ treatment planning system that will also be demonstrated on the Varian booth.

source: Varian Medical Systems

Benefits of TomoTherapy(R) Radiation Therapy Highlighted in 82 Studies to Be Presented at ESTRO 29 in Barcelona

MADISON, WS, Sep 08, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- TomoTherapy Incorporated /quotes/comstock/15*!tomo/quotes/nls/tomo (TOMO 3.11, +0.02, +0.68%) , maker of advanced radiation therapy solutions for cancer care, today announced that 82 studies examining the use of the TomoTherapy(R) treatment system to treat common, complex and rare tumors throughout the body will be showcased at ESTRO 29, September 12-16, 2010, in Barcelona. The studies examine use of the TomoTherapy system on head and neck, prostate, breast and lung tumors, as well as for treating blood cancers, mesothelioma and pediatric patients.

In one of the most promising papers, researchers from San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy compared TomoTherapy to other radiation therapy solutions using Pareto front analysis to explore the ability of these treatment methods to improve target coverage without sacrificing organs at risk (OAR) or other constraints. Researchers reported that "for all simulations RapidArc(R) met less of the optimization criteria, while TomoTherapy was able to produce the most homogeneous dose and have the capability to conform dose distributions better than RapidArc(R)."

Head and Neck Cancers Among the numerous studies on head and neck tumors, two studies compare arc therapy to helical TomoTherapy radiation delivery. Exploring the treatment of patients with oropharyngeal cancer, researchers in Belgium and the Netherlands concluded that in the treatment of head and neck cancer, helical TomoTherapy treatment times are less than both Smart Arc and step and shoot techniques. In fact, TomoTherapy treatment was fastest of all techniques examined, at 6.6 minutes, compared to 7.5 minutes for Smart Arc and longer times for other intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) techniques, while delivering the best homogeneity and equivalent or better OAR sparing.

source: Marketwatch

New Model May Simplify High-Dose Radiosurgery Planning

COLUMBUS, Ohio – There is yet no straightforward way to determine the optimal dose level and treatment schedules for high-dose radiation therapies such as stereotactic radiation therapy, which is used to treat brain and lung cancer, or for high-dose brachytherapy for prostate and other cancers.

Radiation oncologists at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James) may have solved the problem by developing a new mathematical model that encompasses all dose levels.

Typically, radiation therapy for cancer is given in daily, low doses spread over many weeks. Oncologists often calculate the schedules for these fractionated, low-dose treatment courses using a mathematical model called the linear-quadratic (LQ) Model. The same calculation model is used to evaluate radiation response, interpret clinical data and guide clinical trials.

“Unfortunately the LQ Model doesn’t work well for high-dose radiation therapy,” says co-author Dr. Nina Mayr, professor of radiation oncology at the OSUCCC-James. “Our study resolves this problem by modifying the current method to develop the Generalized LQ (gLQ) Model that covers all dose levels and schedules.”

If verified clinically, the Generalized gLQ Model could guide the planning of dose and schedules needed for the newer radiosurgery and stereotactic radiation therapy and high-dose brachytherapy procedures that are increasingly used for cancer patients, she says.

source: Ohio State University Medical Center

Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy for Anal Cancer: Toxicity versus Outcomes

Cancer of the anal canal is an uncommon malignancy, with an estimated 5,290 cases diagnosed in the United States in 2009; however, its incidence has been increasing over the past several decades (www.cancer.gov). Historically, first-line therapy was an abdominoperineal resection (APR), resulting in a permanent colostomy. Long-term cure rates following resection alone have varied in the literature, but results as high as 71% have been reported. For most patients, however, avoidance of radical resection and permanent colostomy placement are highly desirable.[1]

Table 1Nigro and colleagues at Wayne State University pioneered the non-operative treatment paradigm for anal canal cancers.[2,3] Their initial investigation consisted of three patients treated with approximately 30 Gy radiation therapy (RT) with concurrent 5-fluorouracil (5FU) and mitomycin C (MMC). Two patients underwent planned APR with no residual disease demonstrated by pathologic assessment and the third patient declined surgical intervention, with no disease relapse in follow-up. This important preliminary data spawned numerous investigations of non-operative management of anal canal cancer.

source: CancerNetwork

Varian Medical Systems to Showcase Advanced Motion Management Technology for the Treatment of Lung Cancer at CHINA-HOSPEQ 2010

BEIJING, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VAR) will showcase the company's new Gated RapidArc technology on its Trilogy® machine with advanced motion management capabilities at the 2010 CHINA-HOSPEQ exhibition being held in Beijing August 19-21 by China's Ministry of Health. Varian, the world's leading manufacturer of medical technology for treating cancer and a premier supplier of X-ray imaging technology, will also exhibit its software for planning and for managing radiation therapy treatments.

"Our next generation Gated RapidArc technology, which was introduced five months ago for the Trilogy and other Varian accelerators, enables clinicians to monitor and adjust for tumor motion during a RapidArc® treatment," said Xiaoyun Wang, managing director of Varian's Oncology Systems operations in Beijing. "This sophisticated new tool makes it possible to monitor patient breathing and compensate for tumor motion during lung cancer treatments. This Gated RapidArc approach can 'gate' the beam—turn it on and off—in response to tumor motion during treatment, to target the tumor accurately and spare surrounding healthy tissues.

Varian software on display will include:

* The Eclipse™ treatment planning system, which simplifies modern radiation therapy planning for all kinds of treatment, including 3D conformal, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), electron, proton, and brachytherapy treatment. "Eclipse helps doctors and physicists efficiently create and verify treatment plans that have been optimized for each patient," said Wang.
* The ARIA® oncology information system, a comprehensive information and image management system that aggregates patient data into a single, organized, oncology-specific medical chart that simplifies the treatment process so clinicians can focus on caring for patients.

source: Varian Medical Systems

Toward the Future of Radiation Therapy: MD Anderson's Proton Therapy Center Pioneers Pencil Beam Technology for Cancer Patient Care

Treating cancers of the pelvis, brain and in children with new technique designed to 'paint' the tumor

HOUSTON, Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The radiation oncologist's mantra is to deliver the maximum dose of radiation to the malignant tumor, while limiting damage to healthy surrounding tissue. In proton therapy, this balance is achieved by using proton particles, accelerated to nearly the speed of light, to mimic the shape of a tumor and effectively deposit their energy within the confines of it with sub-millimeter precision.

New tools are enabling physicians at the Proton Therapy Center at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer to harness supercharged proton particles and conform them more precisely to the rugged landscape and uneven contours of a tumor. Using a technology known as pencil beam scanning, also known as spot scanning, protons are given the mission: Hone in on cancer cells and destroy. As much an art form as a war tactic, pencil beam proton therapy has the ability to treat the most complex of tumors, like those of the prostate, brain, base of the skull and eye, while leaving healthy tissue and critical structures virtually untouched. The powerful coupling of strength and accuracy offers unmatched capacity to treat a patient's tumor without compromising quality of life during and after treatment.

In nearly a decade since pencil beam's birth in a Swiss physics institute, the world's leading practitioners in radiation science at MD Anderson's Proton Therapy Center have integrated the tested technology into the institution's multidisciplinary approach to patient care and translational cancer research.

source: PR Newswire

ASTRO publishes whole breast irradiation guidelines

Fairfax, Va., August 4, 2010 - The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has released evidence-based guidelines to define appropriate fractionation of whole breast irradiation (WBI), finding that hypofractionated (HF) WBI is effective for many patients with early-stage breast cancer. These guidelines are published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology•Biology•Physics, the official journal of ASTRO.

Studies have shown that WBI following breast conserving surgery lowers the risk of tumor recurrence and improves survival. Most studies used conventionally fractionated (CF) radiation, which involves daily treatments for up to seven weeks. Despite its effectiveness, conventional fractionation has some drawbacks, including the inconvenience associated with undergoing treatment for a long period of time and the total costs, including both direct health care expenditures and opportunity costs to the patient from being away from home and work.

HF-WBI is a type of WBI that uses a higher dose for each treatment but fewer total treatments, so patients can typically finish radiation in four weeks or less. Several trials have found little difference in the local control and survival outcomes for selected patients treated with either CF-WBI or HF-WBI.

source: ASTRO

Women exposed to radiation therapy as children prone to stillbirths

Although unproven, radiation-induced damage of human germ cells might be transmitted to the offspring of patients, which could have adverse effects on reproduction and the health of offspring. This damage could also have implications for those who are exposed to radiation and chemicals in occupational or other settings, such as nuclear power plants.

In this new study, the authors took data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS), which covered 25 US institutions and one in Canada. The risk of stillbirth and neonatal death among the offspring of men and women who had survived childhood cancer was calculated. All patients in CCSS were younger than 21 years at initial diagnosis of an eligible cancer and had survived for at least 5 years after diagnosis.

Among the 1148 men and 1657 women who had survived childhood cancer, there were 4946 pregnancies
. Irradiation of the testes (men), pituitary gland (women), and use of alkylating chemotherapy drugs (both sexes) were not associated with an increased risk of stillbirth or early baby death. Uterine and ovarian irradiation significantly increased (by nine times) the risk of stillbirth and neonatal death across all age groups combined, when doses greater than 10•00 Gy were used. For girls treated before puberty, irradiation of the uterus and ovaries at doses as low as 1•00-2•49 Gy increased the risk of stillbirth or neonatal death by almost five times; when doses over 2.5 Gy were used, the risk was increased 12 times.

source: Physorg.com

Varian Medical Systems and Brainlab Combine TrueBeam™ STx with the Novalis® Radiosurgery Program

PALO ALTO, Calif. and MUNICH, June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems (Varian) and Brainlab today announced the expansion of their partnership to incorporate Novalis technology and other Novalis® Radiosurgery Program elements with the recently launched TrueBeam™ STx system. The expanded suite of products will be badged "Novalis powered by TrueBeam STx." The announcement was made at the 5th International Conference of the Novalis Circle, a meeting of Novalis radiosurgery users that provides a platform for collaboration between clinicians to advance the field of radiosurgery, which was held in Munich June 17-19.

This expanded agreement is a natural extension of a relationship between the two companies that began in 1996, and grew with their collaboration around the Novalis Tx™ radiosurgery platform, which launched in 2007. Novalis Powered by TrueBeam STx will give clinicians radiosurgical and image-guidance capabilities designed for targeted SRS and SBRT treatments. It will include Brainlab iPlan® treatment planning and ExacTrac® room-based x-ray imaging technology as well as Varian's HD120 MLC multileaf collimator for high resolution beam shaping.

"TrueBeam STx technology will significantly enhance the Varian-Brainlab offering to the radiosurgery market with its significant speed and precision. The Novalis Radiosurgery Program includes a comprehensive package of clinical applications, workflow, knowledge base and training for radiosurgery," said Dow Wilson, Executive Vice President; President, Oncology Systems, Varian Medical Systems, Inc.

The TrueBeam STx is specially configured for advanced radiosurgery and is designed to treat a moving target with unprecedented speed and accuracy. A TrueBeam system can deliver treatments up to 50 percent faster with a dose delivery rate of up to 2400 monitor units per minute, double the maximum output of earlier, industry-leading Varian systems. This makes it possible to offer greater patient comfort by shortening treatments, and to improve precision by leaving less time for tumor motion during dose delivery.

source: Varian Medical Systems

TomoTherapy Signs Radiation Therapy Equipment Agreement With Amerinet

MADISON, WI, Jun 22, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- TomoTherapy Incorporated /quotes/comstock/15*!tomo/quotes/nls/tomo (TOMO 3.03, -0.06, -1.90%) announced today that it has signed a purchasing agreement with Amerinet, a leading national healthcare group purchasing organization (GPO). This agreement will make TomoTherapy's premier radiation therapy solutions available to Amerinet's members and will result in a more streamlined purchasing process for Amerinet member facilities seeking an innovative and proven technology for advanced cancer care.

Amerinet has more than 41,000 members nationwide.

"Our new agreement with TomoTherapy will benefit our members by expanding their options for radiation oncology systems," said Ken Rosemann, vice president, laboratory and diagnostic imaging for Amerinet.

"Over the years, TomoTherapy system users have published many studies that demonstrate the system's effectiveness for treating a wide array of cancers throughout the body, from the most common to the most complex," said Fred Robertson, TomoTherapy CEO. "We look forward to the opportunity to work with Amerinet member organizations as they seek to improve and enhance cancer treatment alternatives for their patients."

About Amerinet As a leading national healthcare group purchasing organization, Amerinet strategically partners with acute and alternate care providers to reduce costs and improve quality through its performance solutions. Built on a foundation of data, savings and trust, and supported by a team of clinical and supply chain experts, Amerinet enriches healthcare delivery for its members and communities they serve. To learn more about the Amerinet difference, visit www.amerinet-gpo.com.

source: MarketWire

Press Release: ASTRO applauds MedPAC review of Stark law exception

Fairfax, Va., June 16, 2010 - The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) commends the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) for highlighting concerns about physician self-referral in cancer care in its report released yesterday. We urge the commission to make recommendations to Congress to end abuses of the physician self-referral law in radiation oncology enabled by the "in-office ancillary services exception."

"We are very pleased that key federal policymakers are fully aware of the ever-expanding schemes that are being used to generate profit at the expense of American taxpayers and cancer patients," Tim R. Williams, M.D., ASTRO chairman, said. "We appreciate the considerable effort that MedPAC and others are dedicating to examine these abuses, and we are confident that this hard work will pay off in sound policies that protect cancer patients and precious health care resources."

ASTRO's highest priority is excellence in cancer patient care. When a patient's medical condition requires a referral for specialized care, the treatment decision must be based on quality care and patient choice, not financial incentives. ASTRO believes it is wrong to create business enterprises centered on rewarding physicians for making referrals, yet we are increasingly seeing business ventures across the country designed to generate additional revenues within a group practice by incorporating radiation therapy.

source: ASTRO

Florida radiation council endorses ASTRO patient protection plan

Fairfax, Va., June 15, 2010 – Through a unanimous decision, the Florida Advisory Council on Radiation Protection has endorsed Target Safely, the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO) patient protection plan.

ASTRO’s Board of Directors developed Target Safely after a systemic review of the Society’s patient safety and quality assurance projects, which began as part of the Board’s winter meeting January 28-31, 2010. The goal of the plan is to improve safety and quality and reduce the chances of medical errors.

"The Florida Bureau of Radiation Control and the Advisory Council on Radiation Protection are pleased to endorse ASTRO’s Target Safely plan," William Passetti, chief of the Florida Department of Heath Bureau of Radiation Control, said. "We are always looking for partners to work with to help reduce any unnecessary radiation exposure to people in Florida and feel this plan is an important piece toward that end."

source: ASTRO

New 'Microbead' Radiotherapy More Effective With Molecular Imaging

ScienceDaily (June 7, 2010) — Research unveiled at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's 57th Annual Meeting may change the way that a novel form of radiotherapy is set up and tested prior to treatment. This technique, known as radiomicrosphere therapy, involves the injection of tiny highly radioactive beads that "nestle up" with cancerous tumors and destroy them with precision. However, technologists and physicians must work together to carefully plan each patient's treatment using molecular imaging to ensure that the beads do not wander off into other areas of the body.

"Radiomicrosphere therapy guided by molecular imaging is an emerging area of radiotherapy and has the potential to target treatments for cancer patients," said Ron Young, C.N.M.T., principal researcher and clinical manager of nuclear medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. "This technique allows us to provide the most effective and individualized therapy with minimal complications for the patient."

Radiomicrosphere therapy can lead to unwanted damage to healthy tissues. Young emphasizes that those providing care must perform an imaging scan of patients to predict where these particles are going to travel and potentially destroy normal tissue.

source: Science Daily release

Proton Therapy Carries Precise, Potent Punch Against Cancers for Patients at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA, May 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia announces the availability of proton therapy, a precise form of cancer radiation that offers potentially life-changing benefits to children with brain tumors and other solid tumors. The Hospital's Cancer Center has recently begun using proton treatment at the new Roberts Proton Therapy Center, a cutting-edge radiation oncology facility located across the street from Children's Hospital in Penn Medicine's Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine.

With a child diagnosed with a brain tumor, parents often face a cruel dilemma. Conventional radiation treatment that offers survival often risks severe side effects, including damage to surrounding healthy tissue, as well as impairments to hearing, vision, growth and cognition. The after-effects may impede a child's daily life and may carry the prospect of lifelong disability and dependence. In fact, the side effects are potentially devastating enough that conventional radiation therapy is not given to children under age two.

The Roberts Proton Therapy Center is the only proton therapy facility in the country conceived with pediatric patients in mind from the earliest planning stages. Children who receive proton therapy in this $140 million state-of-the-art facility benefit from a long-standing collaboration between Children's Hospital and radiation oncologists at Penn Medicine. Young patients experience family-focused pediatric care from a medical team who understands the unique needs of children with cancer, while providing emotional support for the entire family. Every detail has been considered-- from scheduling morning treatments for children who cannot eat prior to anesthesia, to offering a dedicated child-oriented waiting room and a dedicated pediatric anesthesia room.

source: PR Newswire

Well-Tolerated Radiotherapy Provides Longer Life to Patients With Recurrent Brain Cancer

ScienceDaily (May 24, 2010) — Patients who received hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for their recurrent brain cancers lived longer lives, according to researchers at Thomas Jefferson University.

Not only does hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (H-SRT) provide longer survival, patients do not experience side effects commonly seen with use of chemotherapies and targeted therapies, the researchers found. They believe these findings, reported online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, set a new bar for the treatment of recurrent gliomas.

"In many centers, patients with tumor progression within six months after the initial conformal radiotherapy are denied a second radiotherapy course (such as H-SRT), based on the assumption that their prognosis is poor." said senior author Maria Werner-Wasik, M.D., professor of Radiation Oncology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and Co-Director of the Stereotactic Radiosurgery Program at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience. "Our findings support the recommendation that essentially all patients with progressive high-grade gliomas, who are in good shape and have tumors amenable to local radiotherapy, should be considered for H-SRT."

source: Science Daily release

Varian Medical Systems Introduces ProBeam™ Proton Therapy Platform at Particle Therapy Co-operative Group (PT COG) 2010 Meeting

GUNMA, Japan, May 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) is introducing the fully-integrated ProBeam™ proton therapy system at the 2010 Particle Therapy Co-operative Group (PT-COG) meeting here this week. The ProBeam system incorporates imaging, gating, robotic patient positioning, treatment planning and oncology information software to enhance treatment quality for patients and workflow efficiency for clinicians.

"ProBeam is the result of decades of leadership in proton therapy research and development and it has been designed from the ground-up to meet the needs of clinicians and patients alike," says Moataz Karmalawy, head of Varian's particle therapy group. "This fully integrated system can be used for all forms of advanced proton therapy including image-guided proton therapy and intensity-modulated proton therapy."

The ProBeam system incorporates Dynamic Peak™ integrated scanning technology which paints a precise radiation dose on the target volume, enabling true intensity modulated proton therapy. The system also incorporates proprietary pencil-beam scanning technology, which allows for precise dose distribution.

source: Varian

U-M study achieves reduced side effects in head and neck cancer treatment

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have applied advanced radiation techniques for head and neck cancer to avoid treating critical structures that affect swallowing and eating. A new study shows these principles and techniques treated the cancer effectively while greatly reducing long-term swallowing complications.

The researchers applied highly conformal, intensity-modulated radiation therapy and knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the structures involved to carefully craft a novel treatment plan that avoids certain muscles in the mouth and throat that are most involved in swallowing. Generally, head and neck tumors do not spread to these structures.

Of the 73 patients treated with this technique, all but four were eating a normal diet after their treatment ended and only one was dependent on a feeding tube. Typically up to 20 percent of head and neck cancer patients remain dependent on a feeding tube after finishing an intensive course of radiation treatment concurrent with chemotherapy.

Results of the study appear online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

source: University of Michigan Health System

Experts Discuss the Potential of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) in the Treatment of Lung, Spine, and Liver Cancer

NEW YORK, April 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Radiosurgical approaches to cancer treatment are showing promise in the treatment of lung, liver, and spinal tumors, according to four leading clinical experts who presented at a symposium in New York earlier this month. New approaches to image-guidance and motion management are making it possible to successfully target tumors that are typically hard to reach with a radiosurgical technique doctors call stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).

"Evidence has shown that increasing the dose to the targeted tumor improves local control or survival, while reducing the dose to normal surrounding tissues reduces treatment toxicity of treatment," said John J. Kresl, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of Radiation Oncologists of Central Arizona at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center. "This is precisely what stereotactic body radiotherapy enables us to do so well. In the past, outcomes for radiation therapy weren't as good as we hoped for, because side effects prevented us from making the dose high enough to control the cancer. By enabling us to minimize exposure of the normal healthy tissues, stereotactic treatments are helping to overcome this problem."

Radiosurgical treatments involve the use of numerous small, powerful, highly focused radiation beams to attack tumors from many different angles in just one to five sessions. Conventional radiotherapy approaches involve delivering smaller daily doses over 30 to 40 treatment sessions.

source: Varian Medical Systems

SBRT For Lung Cancer Report Released By ASTRO

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has released its Emerging Technology Committee's report evaluating the use of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in lung cancer treatment.

SBRT is a newer radiation therapy treatment that uses focused radiation beams to target a well-defined tumor and relies on detailed imaging, computerized three-dimensional treatment planning and precise treatment setup to deliver the radiation dose with extreme accuracy to any part of the body, excluding the brain or spine. It typically uses higher radiation doses in fewer treatments than other standard treatments.

Historically, the preferred treatment for lung cancer patients is surgery, but numerous lung cancer patients are unfit for surgery due to the presence of other medical conditions, such as cardiopulmonary disease related to chronic smoking, that put them at an unacceptably high risk of surgical morbidity and mortality. Traditionally six to seven weeks of radiation have been used for this group of patients, but studies showed a high risk of local failure.

source: ASTRO

Smoking During Radiation Therapy For Head And Neck Cancers Linked To Poorer Outcomes

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Smokers who don’t quit before radiation therapy for throat, mouth and other head and neck cancers fair significantly worse than those who do, research from the UC Davis Cancer Center has found.

Allen Chen, an assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the UC Davis Cancer Center, found that head- and neck-cancer patients who continue to smoke during radiation therapy have poorer 5-year overall survival and higher rates of disease recurrence than those who quit smoking prior to treatment.

The study, published online recently in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, should help oncologists counsel patients about the benefits of quitting smoking after a diagnosis of head and neck cancer, said Chen, lead author of the study.

“I always tell patients, ‘You should really stop smoking,’ but I had no tangible evidence to use to convince them that they would be worse off if they continued to smoke,” Chen said. “I wanted concrete data to see if smoking was detrimental in terms of curability, overall survival and tolerability of treatment. We showed continued tobacco smoking contributed to negative outcomes with regard to all of those.”

source: UC Davis Health System

Varian Medical Systems Introduces a Trilogy® Accelerator With Gated RapidArc® and Advanced Motion Management

PALO ALTO, Calif., April 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) has added advanced motion management capabilities including gated RapidArc to its Trilogy platform for treating cancer with targeted radiotherapy. A set of sophisticated new tools now enables clinicians to monitor and adjust for tumor motion during treatment, and to utilize respiratory gating during a RapidArc® treatment.

"Extensive research and development into motion management systems has culminated in powerful new capabilities that will be standard on the new Trilogy accelerators and available as an upgrade on our large installed base of Trilogy and Clinac iX machines," said Dow Wilson, president of Varian's Oncology Systems business. "Our Clinac iX and Trilogy accelerators together with our new TrueBeam platform (see accompanying press release) can now offer clinics an unmatched combination of motion management, speed, and versatility."

Gated RapidArc® radiotherapy makes it possible to monitor patient breathing and compensate for tumor motion while quickly delivering dose during a continuous rotation around the patient. This development enables the use of RapidArc to target lung tumors with greater precision by "gating" the beam—turning it on and off—in response to tumor motion.

source: Varian

Appropriate Radiation Therapy Lacking For Terminal Cancer Patients

A new analysis has found that a considerable proportion of patients with end-stage or terminal cancer do not benefit from palliative radiation therapy (radiotherapy) despite spending most of their remaining life undergoing treatments. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study indicates that greater efforts are needed to tailor appropriately palliative radiotherapy to patients with end-stage cancer.

Palliative radiotherapy for end-stage cancer patients is intended to control cancer-related pain and other symptoms and to help patients maintain a good quality of life when long-term cancer control is not possible. By reducing the number of cancer cells, palliative radiotherapy can ease pain, stop bleeding, and relieve pressure, even when the cancer cannot be controlled. However, for many patients, the treatments are not effective. In addition, if patients are close to death, they may wish to stop treatments if they would like to die at home.

source: Medical News Today

Elekta Introduces Next Generation SBRT for Lung Cancer with Ground-Breaking 4D Image Guidance to Manage Tumor Motion and Enhance Safety

Atlanta, GA (April 8, 2010) /PRNewswire/ — Elekta has introduced an advanced solution for treating lung tumors that enables doctors to visually confirm the tumor's position during the breathing cycle. This new technology treats the lesion with a continuous radiation beam, increasing therapy accuracy while using less imaging radiation during treatment delivery.

Lung tumors have been among the most challenging radiation therapy targets because the patient's breathing causes tumors to move. New research has shown that the lung tumor shifts position from day to day during the course of treatment (baseline shift).1 Doctors often have had to use external skin surface markers or implanted markers to estimate lung tumor position during the breathing cycle and then apply the beam only during certain points in the patient's respiration. These strategies require complex, time-consuming planning and delivery, and prolong treatment with an inefficient stop-start (i.e., gated) beam delivery.

"Elekta's XVI Symmetry™ and XVI Intuity™ completely change the approach when it comes to the treatment of lung tumors," says Dee Mathieson, Senior Vice President, Oncology Business Line Management. "Symmetry provides tools to manage shifts in the relative positions of the tumor and organs-at-risk during the respiratory cycle, and Intuity ensures that not only is the tumor's position accounted for, but also the position of nearby healthy critical structures. This contributes to a more patient-friendly and safe treatment."

source: PR Newswire

Imaging and Conformality Highlighted in Study of TomoTherapy Technology for Craniospinal Irradiation

MADISON, Wis. – April 5, 2010 – TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TOMO), maker of advanced radiation therapy solutions for cancer care, today cited results of a study from McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that showed the benefits of TomoTherapy® technology in a variety of cases requiring craniospinal irradiation (CSI) in children and young adults. The study—entitled “Standard and Nonstandard Craniospinal Radiotherapy Using Helical TomoTherapy” and published online (Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys., March 2010; Epub ahead of print)—concluded that the TomoTherapy platform offers a major dosimetric advantage in treating both standard and complicated cases by utilizing integrated daily imaging and helical radiation delivery to more accurately target tumors and spare surrounding structures and organs.

As reported in the study, “Helical TomoTherapy delivers continuous arc-based [intensity-modulated radiation therapy] (IMRT) that gives high conformality and excellent dose homogeneity for the target volume. Helical TomoTherapy allows for differential dosing of multiple targets resulting in very elegant dose distributions. By its conformal nature, IMRT is very sensitive to improper patient setup. The use of pretreatment [megavoltage CT] (MVCT) imaging with [helical TomoTherapy] allows for increased precision with respect to patient positioning and use of a reduced [planning target volume] (PTV) margin. Daily imaging of our patients has shown the technique to be very reproducible. We conclude that [helical TomoTherapy] is an excellent tool for planning and delivery of conformal IMRT for both standard and nonstandard CSI.”

source: TomoTherapy

Radiation after mastectomy underused, U-M study finds

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — While radiation therapy is common after breast conserving surgery, it’s much less frequent after mastectomy, even among women for whom it would have clear life-saving benefit. This is according to a new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The study looked at 2,260 women treated for breast cancer, assessing whether they had lumpectomy or mastectomy, and whether they would be strong candidates for radiation therapy. Women who have particularly large tumors or cancer in four or more of their nearby lymph nodes are recommended to have radiation after mastectomy.

The study found that among patients who should receive radiation therapy according to medical guidelines, 95 percent of those who had lumpectomy went on to receive radiation, but only 78 percent of those who had mastectomy received radiation. Among women for whom radiation is less clearly beneficial, 80 percent of the lumpectomy patients had radiation while only 46 percent of the mastectomy patients did.

source: University of Michigan Health Syste

Specific lymph node radiotherapy is well-tolerated after surgery in early breast cancer patient

Barcelona, Spain: In patients with early breast cancer, giving radiotherapy to the lymph nodes located behind the breast bone and above the collar bone is well-tolerated, after mastectomy or breast conserving surgery, a radiation oncologist will tell delegates at the seventh European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC7) today (Saturday 27 March). Women at a high risk of developing breast cancer will probably benefit from additional lymph node radiotherapy, Dr Philip Poortmans, from the Dr. Bernard Verbeeten Instituut, Tilburg, The Netherlands, and a member of the EORTC* Radiation Oncology Group, will say.

Initial findings from the 4,004-patient multi-centre study carried out by the EORTC radiotherapy and breast cancer groups (46 institutions from 13 countries) show that there is no evidence of increased toxicity to the heart at three years follow-up in patients who received additional lymph node radiotherapy.

Patients will be followed-up for many years to see whether specific lymph-node radiotherapy could lead to long-term damage of the heart or the lungs, side effects that are associated with breast cancer radiotherapy.

Dr Philip Poortmans, one of the trial co-ordinators, will tell delegates that the longer-term aim of the EORTC study is to see whether giving additional radiotherapy to the lymph nodes located behind the breast bone and above the collar bone (internal mammary and medial supraclavicular [IM-MS] lymph nodes) to patients with early operable breast cancer will improve overall survival.

source: EurekAlert

Study Reveals TomoTherapy® Plays Key Role in Enabling Concurrent Chemo-Radiation Treatment

Clinical Trial from Brussels University Hospital in Belgium

MADISON, Wis – March 23, 2010 – TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TOMO), maker of advanced radiation therapy solutions for cancer care, today cited the first published results on the concurrent use of hypofractionated TomoTherapySM radiation treatments and chemotherapy for unresectable locally-advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The clinical trial was carried out by the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Universitaire Ziekenhuis (UZ) Brussel in Brussels, Belgium, and published in the journal Cancer (Volume 116, Issue 1, Pages 241-250, Jan 2010). Previous studies have shown an increase in the rate of tumor control via either escalating biologically effective radiation dose, or the addition of chemotherapy concurrent with the course of radiation. This trial tests the feasibility of dose escalation along with concurrent chemotherapy, taking advantage of the accuracy and dose conformity of helical TomoTherapy treatments in minimizing radiation damage to normal tissues.

The paper, “Toxicity Report of a Phase 1/2 Dose-Escalation Study in Patients With Inoperable, Locally Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer With Helical TomoTherapy and Concurrent Chemotherapy”, concludes that a TomoTherapy schedule of 67.2 Gy in 30 fractions, concurrent with cisplatin/docetaxel, is feasible and has acceptable toxicity with a promising tumor response rate.

source: TomoTherapy

ASTRO publishes supplement on protecting cancer patients by reducing radiation doses, side effects

The Quantitative Analysis of Normal Tissue Effects in the Clinic (QUANTEC) review has been published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) to update recommendations for the safe irradiation of 16 organs. For each organ, the relationship between dose/volume and clinical outcome is reviewed. These reviews replace initial recommendations published in 1991.

When physicians began using radiation therapy to treat cancer, there was limited technology available to image a tumor and then target radiation specifically to it while limiting the dose to nearby healthy tissues. In the 1980s and 1990s, the field of imaging was revolutionized through the use of computed tomography-based diagnosis and radiation therapy treatment planning, allowing for treatments to be targeted more directly to the tumor and minimizing exposure to surrounding tissues.

No radiation treatment can be given while avoiding all nearby healthy tissue, but unlike cancer cells, normal tissue cells can repair themselves after receiving radiation. The QUANTEC review was published to help the radiation oncology treatment team decide which areas of healthy tissue surrounding a tumor can most safely receive radiation and to provide guidance for selecting doses/volumes to be treated.

source: ASTRO

New Device Optimizes Targeting of Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer

PR Log (Press Release) – Mar 16, 2010 – Radiation oncologists and prostate health specialists at South Nassau Communities Hospital’s Center for Prostate Health are using a new device that helps target the radiation dose delivered to the prostate and further reduces radiation exposure to surrounding tissues.

The device, a temporary, implantable balloon prostate immobilizer, “increases the effectiveness of leading-edge, external beam radiation technologies such as Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) by preventing the prostate from moving at the time radiation is delivered to the cancer,” said Edward E. Mullen, Jr., MD, director of radiation oncology.

Numerous studies demonstrate that even after the patient has been positioned and secured externally, the prostate can move internally up to ½-inch before the patient is treated. This internal prostate movement (which is factored into the treatment plan) is a key challenge to ensuring the precision of the radiation treatment.

source: PR Log

Researchers Pave Way for Tracking of Prostate Motion With a Single kV Imager During Arc Radiotherapy

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers in the US and Denmark have made a breakthrough in image-guided targeting of prostate tumors during arc radiotherapy treatments. In research partially supported by Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR), physicists at Stanford University (California, USA) and Aarhus University Hospital (Aarhus, Denmark) have devised a method for 'real-time' tracking of the prostate motion using Varian's On-Board Imager® that shows promise in paving the way for advanced clinical treatments.

Arc therapy techniques such as Varian's RapidArc® technology are fast and efficient radiotherapy treatments delivered in a continuous rotation of the treatment machine around the patient. The position of the target must be updated in real-time in order for the dynamic multi-leaf collimator (DMLC) to track tumor motion. To date, a combination of MV portal images and kV orthogonal images have been tested to achieve this.

"Acquiring mega-voltage images is not ideal during RapidArc because the DMLC can block the view of the target during the treatment," says Per Rugaard Poulsen, lead author of the research. "The kV image beam is not obscured by the treatment DMLC making the markers visible from all treatment angles, unlike with the MV beam."

source: Varian

ViewRay Wins NorTech Innovation Award

Award Recognizes ViewRay's Advancements in Radiation Therapy Technology

CLEVELAND, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- ViewRay, Inc., a privately held medical device company, has earned a NorTech Innovation Award for its advancements in radiation therapy technology for the treatment of cancer. ViewRay was honored for its unique combination of medical imaging and radiotherapy, which is designed to improve the effectiveness of cancer treatments. Radiation therapy is used to treat nearly two-thirds of today's cancer patients.

While radiation has proven critical in the fight against cancer, current radiotherapy technology has a major shortcoming: because patients' internal organs may shift during treatment, clinicians cannot determine precisely where the radiation is going in a patient's body. Organ motion may be significant enough to cause the radiation to miss the target and unnecessarily irradiate healthy tissue. To solve this problem, ViewRay is using a new combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and radiotherapy technology. The ViewRay system is being designed to allow clinicians to see where the radiation is delivered inside the patient moment by moment during the treatment, potentially reducing side effects and improving treatment success for patients with many different kinds of cancer. The ViewRay system is now in the final stages of development.

source: PR Newswire

McMaster-led study finds short-term radiation therapy successful against breast cancer

An intense three-week course of radiation therapy is just as effective as the standard five-week regimen for women with early-stage breast cancer.

Dr. Tim Whelan, a professor of oncology at McMaster's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, led a team of researchers to find that women who received the accelerated therapy have a low risk of the breast cancer for as long as 12 years after treatment. The study was conducted by the Ontario Clinical Oncology Group under the direction of Dr. Mark Levine.

The results are to be published in the Feb. 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, and have been presented to a meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

The study concluded a shorter, more intense course of therapy is as safe and effective as the standard treatment for select women who have undergone breast-conserving surgery.

Women who receive a three-week treatment - called accelerated hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation - have a low risk of side effects and recurrence of the cancer more than decade after treatment. It is just as effective as the standard five-week course of radiation following surgery to remove the malignancy.

source: McMaster University

Lower overall dosage of radiotherapy in fewer larger doses as safe for breast cancer patients

The chronic side-effects of radiotherapy for early breast cancer, as reported by women themselves, are not any worse when treatment is given in a lower overall dose in fewer but larger treatments according to a trial part funded by Cancer Research UK and published today in the Lancet Oncology.

The study was part of the 4,451 patient START1 trials, which were co-ordinated by the Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit at The Institute of Cancer Research and funded by Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health. These trials found that a lower total dose of radiotherapy, delivered in fewer, larger treatments is as effective at treating the disease as the international standard of a higher total dose delivered over a longer time.

The new part of the START trial published today used a questionnaire2 approach to assess the chronic side-effects of different radiotherapy doses for early breast cancer which until now have been uncertain.

source: Cancer Research UK

Benefits from Radiation Therapy Outweigh Risks for Cancer Patients

Statement from US Oncology

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to the issues raised by the Jan. 24 New York Times article, "Radiation Offers New Cures and Ways to Do Harm," US Oncology, Inc. wants to ensure that cancer patients and the general public understand that the benefits received from radiation therapy in cancer care far outweigh the risks, and that cancer patients fighting their disease with help from the US Oncology physician network, and their loved ones, can rest assured that extensive quality control measures are put in place to minimize risks.

Cancer is a serious and potentially life-threatening disease. Radiation therapy is one of the safest, most effective ways to treat this disease. About half of all people with cancer are treated with radiation therapy, either alone or in combination with other types of cancer treatment.

US Oncology is affiliated with a network of more than 1,300 physicians, including more than 160 radiation oncologists. As technology advances, so does the care required by the technical team to ensure patient safety. US Oncology affiliated practices that offer radiation therapy services are led by board certified radiation oncology physicians and a highly trained technical staff. Quality assurance and patient safety are taken very seriously. Throughout the US Oncology network, steps are taken on a daily basis to ensure that each and every treatment is delivered as intended by the physician.

Practices across the entire US Oncology network follow published guidelines from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine on the performance testing of all radiation therapy technology, comply with regulatory requirements, and engage in a radiation oncology peer-review program that includes a focus on quality assurance.

source: US Oncology

Varian Medical Systems Accredits Royal North Shore Hospital as Australia's First Image-Guided Radiotherapy School

SYDNEY, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Radiation Oncology Department at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney has become the first in Australia to be formally accredited by Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR), the world leader in radiotherapy, as a teaching facility for image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). The hospital will hold four IGRT courses in 2010 and there are plans to extend this accreditation to other advanced techniques such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and RapidArc® in the future.

"The advanced radiotherapy that we use in our department combines computer controlled technology with imaging equipment to deliver intensity-modulated radiotherapy and image-guided radiotherapy," says Associate Professor Michael Back director of radiation oncology at the hospital's Northern Sydney Cancer Centre. "These techniques enable the radiation therapists to image and precisely target the patient's tumor each day to within an accuracy level previously unheard of in conventional radiotherapy."

Prof. Back says the signing of the contract with Varian to provide other radiation oncology departments with training in such techniques is a great step towards improving the precision and quality of radiotherapy departments using this equipment across Australasia.

source: Varian

Nation’s First Proton-Certified Radiation Therapists Graduate

BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The first group of radiation therapists (RTTs) will receive their advanced proton therapy certificates from Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington today, making them the first proton-certified RTTs in the nation. A graduation ceremony will be held at the ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Oklahoma City, the sixth center to open in the country to offer proton therapy, an alternative to X-ray radiation for cancer treatment that spares healthy tissue and results in far fewer short- and long-term treatment side effects.

The Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington program is the nation’s first proton therapy certificate program and operates as part of the college’s Radiation Therapy Program. A portion of the program was held at the ProCure Training and Development Center in Bloomington, the only training facility in the world dedicated to proton therapy. Eight of the thirteen graduates are employed at the ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Oklahoma City.

“Our relationship with Ivy Tech has been very rewarding,” said Niek Schreuder, senior vice president of technology and medical physics at ProCure. “The training these RTTs receive helps ensure that the highest level of care will be provided to patients at our center in Oklahoma City. The demand for trained staff continues to increase as more proton therapy centers open across the country.”

“We are thrilled that our program develops graduates that can skillfully and compassionately serve the needs of patients with cancer across the nation,” said Larry G. Swafford, Ph.D., professor and chair of the radiation therapy program at Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington. “Our affiliation with ProCure provides our students with hands-on training that is not available anywhere else in the world.”

The advanced proton certificate program provides 16 college credits or the equivalent of two years of continuing education (CE) credits from the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT).

source: Business Wire

Sexual function does not continuously decline after radiation therapy treatments for prostate cancer

Sexual function in prostate cancer patients receiving external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) decreases within the first two years after treatment but then stabilizes and does not continuously decline as was previously thought, according to a study in the January 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer other than skin cancer. It can be effectively treated using multiple methods, including prostatectomy, brachytherapy and EBRT, so the long-term side effects are often used by patients and doctors as deciding factors when choosing a treatment.

Changes in sexual function are some of the more common side effects from prostate cancer treatments, but the degree to which EBRT affects function varies widely, depending on the study.

In a first of its kind study, researchers at the Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Department of Radiation Oncology in Philadelphia and the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology in Sacramento, Calif., evaluated 143 prostate cancer patients receiving EBRT who completed baseline data on sexual function before treatment and at follow-up visits.

source: ASTRO