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New technology is advancing radiation oncology

by Lisa Chamoff, Contributing Reporter | October 26, 2020
Rad Oncology Proton Therapy
From the October 2020 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


“This shows that protons can be used for the Flash effect, delivering more dose while sparing healthy tissue,” said Nicolas Denef, director of product management for proton therapy at IBA.

IBA also continues to develop ARC proton therapy, which the company says provides faster and simpler treatment, with the potential to reduce the integral dose and achieve better dose conformality.

The company recently incorporated a new motion management beam management technology in the Proteus line.

"We irradiate within a window when the tumor is in the location we know, and stop when it is out,” Denef said.

The second step will be to more precisely visualize the tumor movement.

Mevion
At the end of last year, the FDA cleared an integrated ceiling-mounted cone beam CT that’s now used in Mevion-equipped proton therapy centers. Mevion also installed a new Siemens CT on rails at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Customers will begin using the integrated diagnostic CT to investigate adaptive therapy, said Skip Rosenthal, Ph.D., senior vice president of clinical affairs for Mevion.

Mevion also integrated the SDX, a respiratory monitoring and measurement system by DYN'R, which released a model that integrates with the HYPERSCAN in May of this year. In addition, Orfit Industries and CIVCO Radiotherapy also released couch tops designed for the MEVION S250 Proton Therapy Series Systems in June and July of this year.

Like many of the Mevion-affiliated proton therapy centers around the world, Barnes-Jewish Hospital has been successful, and added a second fully independent treatment room that went live in July, Rosenthal said.

Mevion is the only vendor that has been granted approval for marketing in Canada and was selected to provide equipment for a proton therapy center in Córdoba, Spain.

“COVID-19 has limited our travel, but has not limited our centers,” Rosenthal said.

Mevion customers have also begun research on Flash technology in mouse models.

Varian
At ASTRO last year, Varian Oncology Systems unveiled Ethos, the world's first cancer care delivery system powered by AI. The radiation therapy system is designed to adapt treatment to the patient on a day-to-day basis, based on the tumor and any patient anatomical changes, such as weight loss, in the standard 15-minute treatment time slot.

The product has had a good response, said Kolleen Kennedy, president of proton solutions for Varian.

“We're seeing the number of patients per day really start to accelerate as people understand the power of what that system can bring,” Kennedy said.

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