Imaging Technology News - January/February 2009 - (Page 4)

Spotlight On IMRT TomoTherapy Hi-Art Version 3.1 Saves Time TomoTherapy Inc.’s Hi-Art treatment system 3.1 is said to be a faster version of its image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IG-IMRT) that includes new software and hardware features aimed at enhancing clinical productivity and system usability, and is expected to increase patient throughput. According to a time-on-task study to assess system enhancements in a clinical setting, results reportedly show a savings of up to five minutes per patient have been achieved over previous versions, based on a standard 20minute treatment slot. Software highlights of Hi-Art version 3.1 include a variety of delivery system design improvements designed to eliminate delays in the treatment process. Hardware updates include the addition of a second planning workstation to facilitate parallel clinical workflow, and the introduction of the new High Performance Couch, which provides efficiencies in the quality assurance, imaging and treatment processes, according to the company. TomoTherapy www.tomotherapy.com FDA Clears Calypso’s GPS for The Body for Prostatectomy Patients Known as GPS for the Body, the Calypso System utilizes transponders to set up and continuously track the position of targeted tissue during radiation treatment. In the event that the tumor site moves outside acceptable limits, the clinician adapts therapy during daily treatment to ensure the treatment is delivered as prescribed to the cancerous tissue while avoiding adjacent healthy organs. This is reportedly the only technology platform designed to provide objective, accurate and continuous tracking information during external beam radiation therapy without adding ionizing radiation. Radiation therapy is the standard of care for patients with a high risk of prostate cancer recurrence or those in whom recurrence has been diagnosed. Calypso Medical www.calypsomedical.com Head & Torso Freepoint Phantom Offers Complete QA for CT, Dose Verification The CIRS Model 002H9K offers a complete QA solution from CT imaging to dose verification. With the H9K, choose any point dose location within a circular area with diameter of 11.2 cm by simply adjusting the two rotating cylinders. Lung and bone equivalent rods can be positioned at any location within the circular area for assessment of heterogeneity correction. The center cylinder from the phantom body can be removed to simulate head and neck set-ups. The phantom is constructed of proprietary tissue equivalent epoxy materials. Linear attenuations of the simulated tissues are within 1 percent of actual attenuation for bone and water from 50 keV to 25 MeV. These QUASAR Respiratory Motion Inserts Include Lung-Equivalent Models Modus Medical has expanded its line of QUASAR Respiratory Motion Inserts to include two new lung-equivalent models for IMRT quality assurance. Varian’s RapidArc Pours on the Speed Varian Medical Systems offers the RapidArc radiotherapy technology, which is designed to deliver IMRT reportedly two to eight times faster and more precisely than conventional IMRT or helical tomotherapy. RapidArc’s volumetric modulated arc therapy delivers a complete IMRT treatment in a single rotation of the treatment machine around the patient. The two FDA clearances for RapidArc cover the treatment hardware and the RapidArc treatment planning software module in Varian's Eclipse treatment planning system. Varian Medical Systems www.varian.com materials reportedly eliminate the need for correction factors, thus improving accuracy and saving time. The phantom simulates the patient through the entire process from CT data acquisition and planning to delivery and dose verification. CIRS | www.cirsinc.com Phantom Offers Radiation Therapy Quality Assurance Gammex Inc.’s 507 Rotational Therapy Phantom is designed to meet the daily quality assurance requirements for any type of radiation therapy delivery system that delivers dose rotationally and in a continuous manner. The Gammex 507 for quality control of rotational therapy systems includes a phantom and software, which provides a method of performing seven quality control checks of the rotational system in less than six minutes, including rotational output rate consistency, rotational energy consistency, gantry speed consistency, MLC synchrony with gantry position, stationary and movable lasers position and beam Designed for use with the QUASAR Programmable Respiratory Motion Phantom, these new inserts allow testing of the scanning, planning and delivery phases of the radiotherapy process using a moving target.The inserts are a matched set with identical geometry and offer different testing applications: split lung insert with split 30 mm polystyrene tumor for 4D imaging QA and 2D dose distribution in and around the tumor using gafchromic film and lung insert with solid 30 mm polystyrene tumor drilled for an ion chamber for imaging and point dosimetry at the center of the tumor. Modus Medical Devices www.medusmed.com lateral profile. Gammex Inc. | www.gammex.com 4 | ITN | Jan/Feb 2009 | ITNonline.net http://www.calypsomedical.com http://www.tomotherapy.com http://www.cirsinc.com http://www.modusmed.com/ http://www.varian.com http://www.gammex.com http://www.ITNonline.net

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Imaging Technology News - January/February 2009

Imaging Technology News - January/February 2009 Contents IMRT Imaging RT Solutions for Troublesome Tumors PACS Radiology to Close the Imaging Loop Will Web-Based PACS Take Over? Is CT Dose Under Control? The Best in Digital Mammography Breast Biopsy Systems MX Series Monitors Provide University of Pennsylvania Quality Assurance Reduce Waste to Raise Revenue

Imaging Technology News - January/February 2009

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