First PBS / IMPT proton treatments with RayStation
Provision Center for Proton Therapy treats first patients in Tennessee with the RayStation® treatment planning system from RaySearch Laboratories AB.
On May 27, 2014 the first patient was treated with the Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS) treatment technique at the Provision Center for Proton Therapy in Knoxville, Tennessee, the state’s first and only proton therapy treatment facility. The clinical patient treatment plans were created entirely on RayStation®, RaySearch’s highly advanced treatment planning and dose tracking software platform and delivered on the IBA proton system.
PBS is the most sophisticated delivery technique in proton therapy. It enables Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT) that allows clinicians to target a cancerous tumor by controlling both the intensity and the spatial distribution with millimeter precision. Earlier this year, the first patients were treated using the Uniform Scanning technique at Provision.
The proton center opened less than two years after breaking ground in April 2012. A 220-ton cyclotron, a particle accelerator that produces protons, was installed a year ago in January 2013 at the center, which sits on the 120-acre comprehensive outpatient medical campus at Dowell Springs in Knoxville. In close collaboration with RaySearch, Provision was able to get the treatment planning network installed, have data collected and modeled, perform extensive quality assurance and train their entire staff in only four months. “We knew this was an aggressive timeline, but we were very confident in the technologies that we had selected, and also in the people that were focused on the project. Providing this region with proton therapy as an option for cancer treatment is a vision that our organization has tirelessly pursued. We are pleased with results and happy with our selection of RaySearch as our partner,” said Niek Schreuder, the VP and Chief of Medical Physics for the center.
“The Provision Center for Proton Therapy is a model for what can be achieved when people from multiple organizations come together and work towards a common goal. Niek and his team brought a lot of knowledge and expertise to the table and implemented a cutting edge program safely and efficiently,” says Marc Mlyn, President of RaySearch Americas, Inc. “We are pleased that this was the first site in the USA that implemented RayStation® clinically for proton therapy – both for Uniform Scanning and PBS.”
“Provision has a culture for excellent patient care and takes pride in being at the forefront of leading-edge technologies,” said Marcio Fagundes, M.D., board-certified radiation oncologist and Medical Director at the Provision Center for Proton Therapy. “The Provision Center for Proton Therapy is an example of such commitment. Provision selected RayStation® with the expectation that it would improve efficiency and provide excellence in patient planning. RayStation® has not only achieved these expectations but has changed the landscape of all planning environments currently in practice.”
“Proton therapy is a prioritized area for us and we have worked very hard to create the leading solution for proton treatment planning with support for all treatment modalities. It is of course a historical event for us that RayStation® has now been implemented clinically for proton therapy using the PBS treatment technique meaning that the system is used to create the most advanced cancer radiation treatments available”, says Johan Löf, CEO of RaySearch.
The current version of RayStation® that has FDA clearance supports all relevant proton treatment techniques such as Uniform Scanning, Double Scattering and PBS / IMPT.
About Provision Center for Proton Therapy
Provision Center for Proton Therapy is the first cancer treatment center of its kind in Tennessee and only the second in the Southeastern United States. Open to all credentialed physicians and health systems in the region, the Provision Center for Proton Therapy will have three treatment rooms and will be able to treat up to 900 cancer patients annually, and will bring in many patients from outside the area. Treatments will typically require daily 30 - 45 minute sessions for two months. The next closest location offering proton therapy is 350 miles away. The center brings to Knoxville an advanced cancer treatment capability that presently is available in only a handful of cities. It is one of only 14 in the nation and 46 in the world.
About RayStation®
RayStation® integrates all RaySearch’s advanced treatment planning solutions into a flexible treatment planning system. It combines unique features such as multi-criteria optimization tools with full support for 4D adaptive radiation therapy. It also includes functionality such as RaySearch’s market-leading algorithms for IMRT and VMAT optimization and highly accurate dose engines for photon, electron and proton therapy. The system is built on the latest software architecture and has a graphical user interface offering state-of-the-art usability.
About RaySearch
RaySearch Laboratories is a medical technology company that develops advanced software solutions for improved radiation therapy of cancer. RaySearch provides the RayStation® treatment planning system to clinics all over the world. In addition, RaySearch’s products are distributed through licensing agreements with leading partners such as Philips, Nucletron, IBA, Varian and Brainlab. To date, 15 products have been launched via partners and RaySearch’s software is used by over 2,500 clinics in more than 65 countries. RaySearch was founded in 2000 as a spin-off from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the company is listed in the Small Cap segment on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm.
For more information about RaySearch, visit www.raysearchlabs.com
For further information, please contact:
Johan Löf, President and CEO, RaySearch Laboratories AB
Telephone: +46 (0)8-545 061 30
johan.lof@raysearchlabs.com