Siemens Next Generation Technology May Bring New Hope to Cancer Patients
June 17 2008 - 9:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
First Patients Are Treated with the New ARTISTE Solution Linear
Accelerator in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States
CONCORD, Calif., June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The ARTISTE(TM) Solution
from Siemens Healthcare (http://www.siemens.com/healthcare) has
recently gone clinical in three of the most prominent cancer
centers around the world. Dozens of patients have been treated to
date at MAASTRO Clinic in the Netherlands, German Cancer Research
Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, and Baton Rouge General's
Pennington Cancer Center in Louisiana. (Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080617/NYTU025 ) (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO ) The
ARTISTE Solution is a linear accelerator engineered specifically
for Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART). Unique in design, ARTISTE is
an integrated imaging and workflow solution that offers a
comprehensive portfolio of image-guided and advanced treatment
delivery protocols, including in-room CT imaging capabilities and a
new multileaf collimator, 160 MLC(TM). One of the first patients
treated with ARTISTE was seen at DKFZ, where the linear accelerator
was used to administer radiotherapy for an inoperable esophagus
tumor. "Treatment for this type of tumor demands a very complicated
radiotherapy approach," said Prof. Dr. Huber, head of the Radiation
Oncology Clinical Cooperation Unit at DKFZ. "Using ARTISTE's 160
MLC Multileaf Collimator, we were able to significantly improve the
precision of the dose delivery, while protecting immediate
surrounding healthy tissue." That same week, several patients at
MAASTRO Clinic were also treated using ARTISTE. A couple of
challenging clinical cases included a metastasized tumor in the
abdominal region and a patient with two separate metastases: one in
the head and neck region, and one in the knee cap. "The advanced,
high-end imaging capabilities of ARTISTE allow us to fully
integrate all our Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) and
MAASTRO-developed Dose-Guided Radiation Therapy (DGRT) methods in
one clinical workflow. ARTISTE's imaging flexibility and simplified
workflow help us to confidently treat proliferated tumors in a wide
range of areas of the body," said Bas Nijsten, medical radiotherapy
physicist in the Maastricht Radiation Oncology Department. More
recently, the first U.S. patients were treated with ARTISTE
Solution at the Baton Rouge General's Pennington Cancer Center. The
first two patients were treated for lung and prostate tumors,
respectively, where ARTISTE's 2D and 3D imaging allowed
confirmation of tumor location and enabled more focused and
aggressive treatment, while helping spare organs at risk. "With
ARTISTE, Siemens is changing the way radiotherapy is delivered. As
the first site in the U.S. with ARTISTE, our mission at Baton Rouge
General's Pennington Cancer Center is to combine our commitment to
compassionate cancer care with the latest, most advanced treatment
technology," said Dr. William Russell, medical director of
Radiation Oncology at Pennington Cancer Center. "This exciting
milestone has come to fruition thanks to the clinical collaboration
between Siemens, MAASTRO, DKFZ, and Baton Rouge General," said
Holger Schmidt, chief executive officer, Oncology Care Systems,
Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. "ARTISTE's unique integration
of technologies and streamlined workflow allows clinicians to truly
customize patient treatment by providing them the flexibility and
means to confidently optimize treatment on a per-patient basis. It
is an honor for us at Siemens to be part of this collaborative
effort to help improve quality of care for cancer patients around
the world. We are delighted to have 55 new ARTISTE orders since its
introduction in the market last January." The goal of Adaptive
Radiation Therapy (ART) is to ensure the therapeutic dose is
delivered precisely to the target, and healthy tissue is spared as
planned. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to image the patient
just prior to treatment, verify that the patient position is
correct, and adapt to any anatomical changes immediately before, or
even during, treatment. About Siemens Healthcare Siemens Healthcare
is one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry.
The company is a renowned medical solutions provider with core
competence and innovative strength in diagnostic and therapeutic
technologies as well as in knowledge engineering, including
information technology and system integration. With its laboratory
diagnostics acquisitions, Siemens Healthcare is the first fully
integrated diagnostics company, bringing together imaging and lab
diagnostics, therapy, and healthcare information technology
solutions, supplemented by consulting and support services. Siemens
Healthcare delivers solutions across the entire continuum of care -
from prevention and early detection, to diagnosis, therapy and
care. Additionally, Siemens is the global market leader in
innovative hearing instruments. The company employs more than
49,000 people worldwide and operates in 130 countries. In the
fiscal year 2007 (Sept. 30), Siemens Healthcare reported sales of
euro 9.85 billion, orders of euro 10.27 billion, and group profit
of euro 1.32 billion. Further information can be found by visiting
http://www.siemens.com/healthcare. About Baton Rouge General's
Pennington Cancer Center Baton Rouge General's Pennington Cancer
Center has a rich history of bringing advanced cancer treatment
solutions to South Louisiana through its comprehensive,
multidisciplinary cancer program which includes inpatient,
outpatient, surgical and medical oncology services; radiation
treatment; and cancer research programs. In 2006, the Pennington
family endowed Baton Rouge General's cancer center, further
expanding and increasing access to high quality cancer treatment
for the people of this region. For further information, visit
http://www.brgeneral.org/. About DKFZ The task of the Deutsches
Krebsforschungszentrum in Heidelberg (German Cancer Research
Center, DKFZ) is to systematically investigate the mechanisms of
cancer development and to identify cancer risk factors. The
findings resulting from basic research are expected to lead to new
approaches in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.
Funding is provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and
Research (BMBF; 90 percent) and by the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg
(10 percent). The German Cancer Research Center is a member of the
Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers
(Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren e.V.) Further
information can be found at http://www.dkfz.de/. About MAASTRO
CLINIC MAASTRO, Maastricht Radiation Oncology, is a co-operation
between MAASTRO clinic, the University of Maastricht (UM) and the
University Hospital Maastricht (azM). MAASTRO clinic offers
state-of-the-art radiotherapy to more than 3,500 cancer patients
each year from the mid- and South Limburg area in the Netherlands.
MAASTRO clinic currently has seven modern linear accelerators, all
equipped with EPID and one with Megavolt Cone Beam CT, a PET-CT and
a small and large bore multislice CT with 4D-CT option. For all
patients, planning is done via virtual simulation and 3D planning
software, using advanced dose calculation algorithms. Stereotactic
and brachytherapy treatment are also offered by MAASTRO clinic. The
department's ambitions focus on individualizing treatment using
Computer Assisted Theragnostics (CAT), developing predictive models
for lung cancer, implementing Dose Guided Radiation Therapy (DGRT)
and fundamental biological research on tumor hypoxia. Long-term
strategies are defined in the areas of ion therapy, smart drugs
based on EGFR-AKT pathway, and stem cells and probabilistic
voxel-guided radiotherapy. Furthermore, MAASTRO is a world-wide
research partner based reference site for Siemens OCS. For further
information, visit http://www.maastro.nl/.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080617/NYTU025
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Siemens Healthcare CONTACT:
Tom Schaffner, Siemens AG, +1-610-448-1477, Web site:
http://www.siemens.com/healthcare http://www.brgeneral.org/
http://www.dkfz.de/ http://www.maastro.nl/
Copyright