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