3D Conformal Radiotherapy Tool Speeds Treatment Planning Process

A highly intuitive three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) tool lets the clinician evaluate the impact of changing different treatment priorities in real time, which has a large potential to speed up the time-consuming treatment planning optimization process.

RaySearch Laboratories, AB (Stockholm, Sweden) has received an order for its RayStation treatment planning system from The Valley Hospital Cancer Center (Paramus, NJ, USA). Valley will use RayStation as its treatment planning system for 3D-CRT treatments as well as more advanced treatments such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The order includes functionality covering the full spectrum from all the necessary basic tools needed for patient segmentation and creation of traditional 3D-CRT plans, to advanced tools enabling a more efficient treatment planning process, such as multicriteria optimization.

“When it came time to upgrading our treatment planning system, we took into consideration several different factors. As a busy community hospital, we needed a solution for today and for the future, and RayStation was able to provide this solution while at the same time delivering a product with innovative functionality, performance, and flexibility. By being a PC [personal computer]-based treatment planning system, the cost for future upgrades will be both predictable and controllable,” stated Julie Lo, physicist and clinical supervisor at Valley Hospital Cancer Center. “However, more importantly, it was the innovative functionality that RayStation provides, like multicriteria optimization, built-in tools for IMRT plan analysis, deformable registration, and plan summation, 3D-CRT optimization, adaptive 4D radiotherapy, along with the tried and true DMPO [direct machine parameter optimization], that convinced us to choose this solution. We are excited for the future with RayStation.”

Valley will begin the implementation of RayStation in August 2011, with the intention of going clinical by the end of October 2011. “We are excited to have Valley Community Hospital as our newest customer. Valley’s drive to implement the latest technologies in IMRT and IGRT [image-guided radiation therapy), providing excellent care to their patients, was obvious throughout our discussions. It is a great thing to have large academic institutions using RayStation, but it is especially satisfying to see that our product is being selected at community hospitals as well as private, free standing centers,” noted Marc Mlyn, president of RaySearch Americas.

Johan Lof, CEO of RaySearch Laboratories, AB, said, “The fact that Valley has selected RayStation for its cutting edge technology is another confirmation that the demand for our advanced treatment planning system is rapidly increasing.”

RayStation integrates all RaySearch’s advanced treatment planning solutions into a flexible treatment planning system. It combines unique features such as multicriteria optimization tools with full support for 4D adaptive radiation therapy. It also includes functionality such as RaySearch’s market-leading algorithms for IMRT and volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) optimization and highly accurate dose engines for both photon and proton therapy. The system is built on the latest software architecture and has a graphical user interface offering state-of-the-art usability.

RaySearch Laboratories is a medical technology company that develops advanced software solutions for improved radiation therapy of cancer. To date, 15 products have been launched through partners and RaySearch’s software is used at some 1,800 clinics in more than 30 countries. RaySearch was founded in 2000 as a spin-off from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

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