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Non-Invasive Therapy Techonlogy |
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OHSU Announces First Clinical Use
in the Pacific Northwest of Novalis Tx(TM) Technology for
Non-Invasive, Image-Guided Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy
(SBRT) and Radiosurgery
Other Topics: Radiotherapy
PRNewswire-FirstCall
September 23, 2008
During first months of operation, over 30 patients received
treatments for tumors of the brain, spine, lung, and liver
PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 23
PORTLAND, Oregon- - Doctors at the Oregon
Health & Science University (OHSU) have become the first
clinicians in the
Pacific Northwest to offer patients an advanced form of
image-guided
stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and radiosurgery
using new Novalis
Tx(TM) technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR) and
BrainLAB. OHSU
installed the new Novalis Tx platform in order to offer patients
fast,
accurate non-invasive treatments for cancer and abnormalities of
the central
nervous system |
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Martin Fuss, MD, director of the image-guided radiation therapy
program in
OHSU's Department of Radiation Medicine, has now treated over 30
patients
using Novalis Tx since its installation in June. Patients were
treated for
tumors of the brain, spine, lung, and liver-all areas that can
be difficult
and sometimes impossible to treat using open surgery or
conventional forms of
radiation therapy.
In one case, OHSU doctors found a small, early-stage lung cancer
tumor in
a 78-year-old woman when she received a routine X-ray after a
fall. "It's an
odd thing to say, but she was lucky to have fallen. If she
hadn't, we might
not have found the cancer so early," Fuss said. "Because of her
chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease, she wasn't a candidate for
surgery. Typically,
we would have offered this type of patient a conventional course
of radiation
therapy, but that offers then only a fifty-fifty chance of
success, defined by
local tumor control."
According to Dr. Fuss, who is also a member of the OHSU Cancer
Institute,
stereotactic body radiation therapy or SBRT using Novalis Tx
technology offers
a good chance of achieving 85 to 90 percent local tumor control
rates in this
type of case, based on preliminary studies looking at the
results of using
SBRT to treat early-stage lung cancer.(1)
Another important use of the Novalis Tx at OHSU has been the
treatment of
liver tumors as a bridge to receiving a liver transplant. "In a
cirrhotic
liver, the tumor is surrounded by tissues that are already
severely
compromised," Fuss said. "In the past, we rarely tried to treat
these cases
with radiation at all. Many of these patients are on waiting
lists for
transplants, and they might wait over nine months. Now, with
Novalis Tx, we
are following trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE) with a
five-day course
of SBRT, in an effort to shrink the tumor, or at least keep it
from growing,
which would cause the patient to lose eligibility for a
transplant."
The majority of Fuss's SBRT patients have lung or liver cancer,
but he and
his colleagues are also treating pituitary adenomas, acoustic
neuromas, brain,
and spinal tumors, as well as arteriovenous malformations (AVM),
which are
defects of the vascular system involving snarled tangles of
arteries and
veins.
The Novalis Tx Platform
The Novalis Tx platform combines the most advanced technologies
available
from Varian Medical Systems, the world's foremost provider of
medical devices
and software for treating cancer, and BrainLAB, a leader in
software-driven
medical technologies for precise and non-invasive surgical
procedures. It
incorporates a powerful linear accelerator, which rotates around
the patient
to deliver treatment beams from virtually any angle. A set of
sophisticated
image guidance and motion management tools provide clinicians
with detailed
information about the shape, size, and position of the targeted
lesion, guide
patient set up and positioning, and monitor motion during
treatment. There
are tools for synchronizing treatment with the patient's
breathing patterns,
and to compensate for tumor motion while treating in or near the
lungs. A
high-definition multi-leaf collimator, a beam shaping device,
ensures that the
treatment beam matches the shape of the tumor from every angle.
"When we are treating in areas close to critical structures like
the
spinal cord or the optic nerve, we need the level of precision
that we can get
with Novalis Tx. It offers us unparalleled image-guidance tools
and treatment
beam sculpting capabilities, so we can accurately target lesions
while
protecting the patient's healthy tissues during a SBRT or
radiosurgery
procedure," Fuss said.
"I am proud to say that OHSU is among the leaders in IGRT. The
depth of
our IGRT services is without doubt first class," he added. "With
the addition
of Novalis Tx, we have entered a new age of medicine, making
ultra-precise
radiation therapy a real alternative to conventional surgery for
some of the
patients in our community."
The American Cancer Society estimates that, in the United States
this
year, doctors will diagnose 1,437,180 new cancer cases; over
19,000 will occur
in the state of Oregon, and another 32,380 in the state of
Washington.
ABOUT THE OHSU CANCER INSTITUTE
The OHSU Cancer Institute is the only National Cancer
Institute-designated
center between Sacramento and Seattle. It comprises some 200
clinical
researchers, basic scientists and population scientists who work
together to
translate scientific discoveries into longer and better lives
for Oregon's
cancer patients. In the lab, basic scientists examine cancer
cells and normal
cells to uncover molecular abnormalities that cause the disease.
This basic
science informs more than 300 clinical trials conducted at the
OHSU Cancer
Institute. The Oregon Health & Science University is the state's
only health
and research university, and Oregon's only academic health
center. OHSU is
Portland's largest employer and the fourth largest in Oregon
(excluding
government), with 12,400 employees. OHSU serves patients from
every corner of
the state, and is a conduit for learning for more than 3,400
students and
trainees. OHSU is the source of more than 200 community outreach
programs that
bring health and education services to every county in the
state.
ABOUT VARIAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS
Varian Medical Systems, Inc., of Palo Alto, California, is the
world's
leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for
treating cancer and
other medical conditions with radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton
therapy, and
brachytherapy. The company supplies
informatics software for managing
comprehensive cancer clinics, radiotherapy centers and medical
oncology
practices. Varian is a premier supplier of tubes and digital
detectors for X-
ray imaging in medical, scientific, and industrial applications
and also
supplies X-ray imaging products for cargo screening and
industrial inspection.
Varian Medical Systems employs approximately 4,800 people who
are located at
manufacturing sites in North America and Europe and in its 60
sales and
support offices around the world. For more information, visit
http://www.varian.com/. |
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