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