Friday, December 31, 2010

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

Thursday, December 23, 2010

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

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

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

Friday, December 17, 2010

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

Thursday, December 16, 2010

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

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

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

Saturday, December 11, 2010

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

Friday, December 10, 2010

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

Friday, December 3, 2010

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