Improving Radiotherapy Treatment Accuracy of Deadly Pancreatic Tumors

A new study demonstrated promising results in tracking pancreatic tumor movement with global positioning system (GPS) technology.

Calypso Medical Technologies, Inc. (Seattle, WA, USA) announced the publication of data from a clinician-sponsored investigational study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, USA), demonstrating the utility of the Calypso system in tracking tumor movement in the pancreas. The findings were presented at the 51st annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), July 26-30, 2009, in Anaheim, CA, USA.

"In areas of the body, such as the pancreas, that are susceptible to respiratory motion it can prove difficult to handle the spectrum of motion that can arise,” said James Metz, M.D., clinical director, department of radiation oncology, the University of Pennsylvania Health System. "The Calypso system successfully tracks such motion and enables us to address it as it occurs. We are very excited that our time-response study shows the promise of expanding the use of Calypso's GPS for the Body technology to other anatomical areas.”

Pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal cancers due to the advanced stage at which most patients are diagnosed, strikes over 42,000 Americans each year according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). Moreover, in 2009 over 35,000 people will die from pancreatic cancer in the United States alone. The U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI; Bethesda, MD, USA) lists the one-year survival rate at 24% and the five-year survival rate just 1%. The Calypso system provides real-time tumor tracking during radiation treatment. Tracking tumor motion is essential for radiation treatments because gross patient movement or internal motion of the organ and tumor increases the likelihood that the radiation beam will miss the intended target, thereby delivering radiation to the surrounding healthy tissue.

Calypso Medical's proprietary technology utilizes miniature transponders implanted in the diseased organ to provide accurate, precise, continuous real-time information about the tumor position during external beam radiation therapy. Knowing the location of the tumor target allows the therapist to adjust the delivery of the radiation beam to accurately target the cancer. The Calypso system is cleared by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for use in radiation therapy for the prostate and prostatic bed; however, the technology is also designed for body-wide applications.

In addition to the promise of using the Calypso System for pancreatic targets, an independent investigation conducted at Swedish Cancer Institute (Seattle, WA, USA) will was presented at the meeting in which researchers demonstrated the feasibility of using Calypso technology for tracking during accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) treatments. With APBI, a balance is required to ensure that the whole lumpectomy cavity and the surrounding tissue are treated while minimizing the volume of breast tissue that is irradiated. The Calypso system recorded relevant intrafraction motion, or the amount the target moves during radiation treatments. Monitoring and accounting for this motion not only allows confidence that the target is being hit, but could provide physicians the confidence to pursue tighter margins to reduce the amount of the breast that is irradiated.

"The scientific investigations of our technology into new treatment areas that have traditionally been associated with a poor prognosis is particularly gratifying,” said Eric R. Meier, president and chief executive officer of Calypso Medical. "Today's announcement demonstrates the feasibility of our technology to extend beyond the prostate to track real-time tumor movement in other body locations even those organs like the pancreas that are susceptible to respiratory motion.”

The 16 studies involving Calypso presented at the AAPM meeting represent a combination of research highlighting the promise the technology holds for future applications as well as demonstrating the value of the Calypso system for current use in real-time tracking of the prostate and the prostatic bed during prostate cancer treatment.

Since the radiation beam is more precisely focused on the tumor target, Calypso's technology allows physicians who are treating prostate cancer patients to more tightly contour the radiation dose to the prostate and minimize unwanted does to adjacent healthy tissues. The Calypso Medical also has developed a recent enhancement to the system, the Adaptive Workflow Efficiency Release, which is designed to allow clinicians the ability to further manage patient motion and increase procedure efficiency by repositioning the patient's treatment table remotely.

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Calypso Medical Technologies
University of Pennsylvania