Oncology and Neuroscience Blog from Elekta

Rigorous safety measures, pre-treatment checks help deliver the best treatment; March 20 open house scheduled

Cooley Dickinson Hospital purchased state-of-the-art radiation oncology equipment and began treating patients with this technology in February.

For patients undergoing radiation oncology treatments, the Elekta Synergy can significantly shorten daily treatment times. It also delivers the radiation dose more precisely to the tumor while minimizing the impact to the surrounding healthy tissue.

Says Linda Bornstein, MD, chief of radiation oncology at Cooley Dickinson: “With the Elekta Synergy and its many features designed to benefit patients, we can treat cancer more precisely and aggressively than ever before.”

“Patients in our community have access to the latest radiation oncology treatment technology available,” Dr. Bornstein adds, noting that leading cancer centers like Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center have purchased the same technology.

According to manufacturer Elekta, Cooley Dickinson’s Radiation Oncology Suite is the first in New England to implement the Elekta Synergy that has the ability to perform Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT).

Radiation therapy and patient safety

As the leading radiation therapy technology on the market, the Elekta Synergy includes built-in software programs to ensure the safe delivery of radiation therapy. Craig Hansen, RT (T), BS, radiation therapy manager says Cooley Dickinson’s radiation therapy quality and safety program complies with mandated state and federal guidelines and exceeds best-practice standards that have been set by Cooley Dickinson.

“The safe delivery of radiation therapy is of utmost importance to the physicians, nurses, physicists, radiation therapists, social workers and administrative staff who comprise a patient’s treatment team,” says Hansen.

Cooley Dickinson’s approach to safety and quality assurance includes pre-treatment checks performed by dedicated staff on all treatment plans; charts reviewed weekly by the treatment team and in peer-review chart rounds; and monthly quality assurance meetings are held to develop strategies to improve care and reduce the risk of errors.

Hansen says prior to receiving radiation, a patient’s radiation therapy prescription goes through multi-step pre-treatment checks. Designed to ensure accuracy, a patient’s treatment plan is developed, reviewed and tested by three experienced radiation therapy clinicians. Also, the Elekta Synergy computer software includes duplicative steps designed to verify the radiation prescription.

“As a final step before treatment, we conduct a dry run to verify the imaging,” adds Hansen. Finally, a radiation oncologist signs off on the plan.

In addition, Cooley Dickinson invested in upgrades to its entire radiation therapy computer systems and linear accelerators to ensure the systems exceed quality assurance standards.

Understanding radiation therapy

Patients undergoing radiation treatments for cancer are treated with a linear accelerator, equipment that produces a radiation beam of either electrons or high energy X-rays. The beam is adjusted to match the patient’s tumor shape.

In the majority of cases, radiation therapy is given as fractionated treatment, meaning that patients receive a daily dose of radiation five days a week for two to seven weeks, depending on a patient’s individual treatment plan. At each daily treatment, the radiation beam is given from different angles to ensure that the entire tumor receives an optimal radiation dose.

The geometry and intensity of the radiation field is adjusted to the tumor’s size and shape and also to the type of cancer that is treated. The treatment beam is shaped with a multileaf collimator (MLC) that functions much like the aperture on a camera.

A new approach to radiation therapy

The Elekta Synergy is an advanced digital linear accelerator that integrates imaging tools to enable high quality, 3D imaging at the time of a patient’s radiation therapy treatment. The ability to image or visualize internal structures at the time of treatment allows clinicians to more accurately target tumors while preserving the healthy tissue that surrounds a tumor.

Dr. Bornstein says an advantage of the Elekta Synergy is that it combines the imaging and the treatment at each session and helps to ensure precision during treatment.

With the addition of the Elekta Synergy, the Radiation Oncology Suite contains two linear accelerators, the new machine and a second linear accelerator that has been in use since 1996.

The VMAT technology

Elekta Synergy incorporates Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT), an innovative way to deliver radiation treatments that is a significant improvement over existing radiation therapies. With VMAT, the target area is continuously irradiated while the source of the beam rotates around the patient.

Open house planned

On Saturday, March 20 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Cooley Dickinson Radiation Oncology Suite physicians and staff are pleased to invite the community to an open house to tour the suite and learn about the new technology. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to meet the Cancer Care Program team and learn more about the Cooley Dickinson and Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center collaboration to expand oncology services to Pioneer Valley residents. For more information call the Cancer Care Program office at (413) 582-2028

Learn more at www.cooley-dickinson.org <http://www.cooley-dickinson.org>

Elekta will host its 2010 Cancer Registry Users Meeting Tuesday, April 20 in Palm Springs, California. The premier event for cancer registrars in town for NCRA’s 36th Annual Educational Conference, the meeting is complimentary for customers.

Taking place at the Hilton Palm Springs, the meeting will delve into topics such as new product features and enhancements, as well as what to expect for 2010 Standards in regard to METRIQ v 2.0.

Following the meeting, participants are invited to join Elekta for a customer appreciation party. Featuring live music, dancing and more, the event will be held poolside at the renowned Riviera Resort and Spa from 7-10 p.m. Admission is complimentary for meeting attendees, however registration is required. For those who would like to bring a guest, tickets will be available for $25 per person.

For additional information and to register, visit www.elekta.com/cancerregistry2010

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Two young cancer patients from Virginia are the first recipients of grants from the ProCure Cancer Foundation, a new charitable organization that provides financial assistance to families who cannot afford the nonmedical expenses associated with proton therapy.

The families of Christopher Stubaus and Ella Wells each received a grant to offset the costs of traveling to and living in Boston to undergo treatment at the Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

The Grant Recipients

Eight-year-old Christopher Stubaus just finished a five-week course of proton therapy for orbital rhabdomyosarcoma, an eye cancer that responds well to proton therapy. His parents and his two sisters relocated with him to Boston from their home in Norfolk, Va.

“Most of our living expenses in Boston had to go on our credit card because our savings was depleted to cover the rest of Christopher’s treatment,” his mother, Amanda, said. “Thanks to the grant from the ProCure Cancer Foundation, we’ll be able to pay that bill.”

Five-year-old Ella Wells begins proton therapy at MGH in early February to treat a brain cancer (pilocytic astrocytoma) that she has been fighting for the last two years.

Ella’s proton therapy will last for about six weeks; her mother and two-year old brother will stay with her the whole time. Ella’s father will commute weekly between Boston and the family’s home nearly 600 miles away in Chesapeake, Va.

“My husband and I talk all the time about how blessed we are that at least we don’t have to take on the entire financial burden of our living expenses in Boston,” said Ella’s mother, Amy.

The grants, which are based on financial need, are available to patients undergoing treatment at any of the nation’s seven proton therapy centers: ProCure Proton Therapy Center, Oklahoma City, OK; Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute, Jacksonville, FL; Proton Therapy Center at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute, Bloomington, IN; James M. Slater, M.D. Proton Treatment and Research Center, Loma Linda, CA; and the University of Pennsylvania Roberts Proton Therapy Center, Philadelphia, PA.

For more information about the ProCure Cancer Foundation, visit www.procurecancerfoundation.org.

Dr. Donald L. Trump, President and CEO of Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), America’s first cancer center, will have his head shaved by a Roswell Park cancer patient on March 3, 2010 to honor the Institute’s 26,292 patients, and to encourage others to participate in the “Goin’ Bald for Bucks” program.

Dr. Trump has dedicated his career to the fight against cancer. On March 3, at 10 am at Roswell Park, he’ll make a different, and very visible, contribution to the cause when he shaves his mustache—a fixture on his face since medical school—and his entire head.

RPCI is recognized by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as one of only 40 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States. The institute is also one of 21 members of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).

“On the surface, my challenge is based in fun. But the cause behind it means so much more,” said Dr. Trump. “I am doing this to honor the memory of my parents, who both died from cancer; to recognize the many students and others across our community and country who are setting a positive example through their “Goin’ Bald for Bucks” participation; and to pay tribute to every patient Roswell Park has the privilege of caring for.”

Dr. Trump has significant experience with the clinical aspects of vitamin D in the treatment of solid tumors and has performed more cancer clinical trials with vitamin D than anyone else in the world. He also holds both US and European patents for the use of vitamin D in cancer treatment.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation’s first cancer research, treatment and education center, and currently serves patients from across America and the world. The Institute was one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York.

Since 2002, “Goin’ Bald for Bucks” has raised more than $700,000 for Roswell Park Cancer Institute, thanks to the many schools, organizations and individuals that have raised pledges and given up their locks for the cause. It was founded at Lake Shore High School in a suburb of Buffalo, NY, to support the sister of teacher Tony George during her cancer battle.

Donations to Dr. Trump or any Goin Bald for Bucks participant are now being accepted at www.bald4bucks.org or by phone at 716-845-8788. Individuals, companies and schools are also encouraged to register for the program.

Amanda Momberg of Cedarburg, Wis., was 8 years old when she fell to the kitchen floor and experienced her first epileptic seizure.

“I would shake on one side and I couldn’t talk,” she said. “But I would hear people talking to me.”

For most of her life, she took medication to control the seizures..But in December 2008, at age 16, the medications stopped working. Amanda suddenly started having 60 to 100 seizures a day.

“It was awful,” said Amanda’s mother, Kathy Momberg. “I was not in control; you couldn’t do anything about it.”

Doctors hoped surgery would help, but the surgeons’ first attempt to remove the part of her brain causing the seizures was not successful.

“That’s when the topic of MEG scan came up,” said Kathy Momberg.

Magnetoencophalography, or MEG, is an imaging technique used by doctors to detect changes in the brain. But unlike other imaging tests, the MEG scanner tracks changes in the brain instantaneously.

Because of Amanda’s nearly continuous seizures, Dr. Manoj Raghavan, a neurologist at Froedtert & Medical College in Milwaukee., suggested using MEG to see if there were more parts of Amanda’s brain tissue involved in the seizures they could remove without affecting vital parts of her brain.

The MEG scanner can detect changes in brain waves that occur on the order of milliseconds, as opposed to a second or more with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). And for a select few patients like Amanda, those extra milliseconds can mean the difference between life and death.

When Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin received the MEG scanner, Amanda became their first patient.

To Read the Entire Story : http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/MindMoodNews/sixty-seizures-brain-scan-detects-source/story?id=9730383

Darth Vader star David Prowse yesterday spoke of his joy at winning his year-long battle with prostate cancer.

Star Wars actor David, 74, who played the 6ft 6in villain in the first three films, got the all-clear last month.

The former body-builder – and TV’s Green Cross Code – stunned doctors by making a full recovery after intensive radiotherapy at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital.

Speaking from his home in Croydon, Surrey, David said: “I’ve won the fight and I’m feeling better than ever. Everyone was shocked by how well it all went.”

David admits he was lucky to be diagnosed early after a Prostate Cancer Support Association worker urged him to ask his GP for a blood test.

Now David, whose brother also beat the disease, advises men over 50 to get tested.

He said: “I’ve had people saying I’ve saved their lives. I got the same with the Green Cross Code, it’s happening again.”

for more information : http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/02/02/vader-star-david-clear-of-cancer-115875-22012363/

Elekta has launched a new corporate Web site that provides healthcare professionals, patients, investors and the public with new ways to interact, navigate and browse information about Elekta’s solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders.

Designed with the customer in mind, Elekta.com offers increased functionality, including a new, clean design that appeals to a global audience. The site’s architecture, search ability and navigation also were enhanced, allowing easy and intuitive navigation between product pages, case studies, streaming video clips, financial reports and more. With greater optimization for search engines, content sharing with social media sites –
such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn – is more straightforward.

“When redesigning Elekta.com, our objective was to make it easy for anyone who visits to understand who we are and what our vision is for cancer care,” says Mark Arnold, Vice President of Global Marketing for Elekta. “Second, we want users to have the ability to pinpoint the information and resources they need with minimal clicks.”

To make it faster and easier to find information, Elekta also combined content from Elekta Impac Software and Elekta CMS Software into the new Elekta.com. Elekta acquired Impac Medical Systems in 2005 and Computerized Medical Systems in 2008.

“With the new site, we wanted to provide access to our entire portfolio of products all through a single entry point,” Arnold says. “For this initial launch phase, the peripheral Web sites will remain up and running for a limited period to gradually prepare our users for the implementation of a single Web site for all companies.”

To further refine customer experience, additional updates to Elekta.com will follow throughout the next six months.

Generation V – Capable of reducing treatment times and enhancing conformality, the next-of-breed IMRT known as VMAT has radiation oncologists beaming.

Imagine a newly diagnosed prostate cancer patient lying on a table in a darkened room, about to undergo intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Besides eyeing the linear accelerator anxiously and pondering the side effects radiation might induce (secondary tumors?), he’s also feeling intense pressure to urinate. You made him fill his bladder to lift his reproductive organs out of the way of the beam’s target area-his prostate. But he must ignore that pressure and lie perfectly still. Moving a few millimeters too much could make or break his cure.

In conventional static-field IMRT, that patient must lie prone for five, eight, 10 minutes as you maneuver the linac around him. You deliver a treatment dose; stop and reposition the machine; deliver another dose; stop and reposition the machine; deliver another dose, and so on.

Imagine achieving the same effect in just two or three minutes via the push of a button as your linac rotates around the patient in one or more arcs with the radiation continuously on. As it rotates, the system automatically varies the multileaf collimator (MLC) aperture shape, dose rate, gantry rotation speed and MLC orientation to deliver maximum doses while sparing normal tissue. That’s the promise of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT)-essentially, moving IMRT.

“Instead of covering something from seven angles, you have an infinite number of angles,” says William Bodner, MD, a radiation oncologist at Montefiore Medical Center who has used VMAT since March. “Ten to 15 years ago, we were thinking in terms of static fields and large lead blocks. Now we track these tumors as the machine rotates around, adjusting the shape of the beam. It’s beyond comprehension.”

View the entire article @ http://imaging-radiation-oncology.advanceweb.com/Archives/Article-Archives/Generation-V.aspx

More information can also be found @ http://www.elekta.com/vmat

VMAT Technology explained by Dr.Mehta

Read more on VMAT – http://www.elekta.com/vmat