SOURCE: TomoTherapy
MADISON, WI–(Marketwire – July 16, 2010) – TomoTherapy Incorporated (
Among the first people to be treated was a 55-year-old female patient from Middlesbrough with breast cancer and an unusual chest anatomy. “We could not have treated this woman on a conventional linear accelerator treatment machine, nor with surgery, so it’s extremely satisfying to know we can now offer this quality of treatment to a wider range of patients,” said Karen Pilling, the superintendent radiographer in charge of the TomoTherapy system at JCUH. “The start-up from training through to treating our first patients has been very smooth and easy, and we are benefiting from the reduced set-up time required by the TomoTherapy treatment system. With integrated CT image guidance we are able to see the treatment plan with isodose contours overlaid onto the daily CT images, giving us extra reassurance that the treatment is the most accurate possible.”
The TomoTherapy treatment system delivers radiation therapy in continuous helical rotations around the patient’s body. By enabling precise IMRT, the system allows clinicians to conform treatment to the shape of the tumor while helping to reduce radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue and critical structures. In addition, TomoTherapy technology allows the radiotherapy staff to directly CT image the soft tissues and tumour immediately prior to treatment, and make any necessary adjustments, thereby ensuring greater accuracy for high precision techniques where internal anatomy might change throughout the course of treatment.
Dr. Peter Dunlop, clinical oncologist and clinical director of the James Cook oncology service, outlining his reasons for choosing the TomoTherapy platform stated, “We felt it was extremely important to have fully integrated image guidance and intensity modulation, and we believe TomoTherapy provides that most effectively. It produces the best conformality available. The design of the system is such that there are no junctions, no matching fields, minimized risk of dose calculation mistakes, no uncontrolled hotspots, no gantry collisions and no more electron mode errors. For patients, the megavoltage CT (MVCT) set-ups ensure that we are accurately targeting their tumours. We have found the operation is smooth and treatments are comfortable for patients because they are often quicker than with conventional IMRT, especially in complex head and neck cases.”
Christopher Walker, head of Radiotherapy Physics at James Cook, responsible for all technical and medical physics aspects of this advanced technology, stated, “Procurement of the TomoTherapy system has provided Middlesbrough with an ‘off the shelf’ technical solution to the challenges faced in delivering high quality radiotherapy. The TomoTherapy solution has allowed us to leapfrog to a position of excellence in cancer care in the U.K. The system has a small physical footprint coupled with a reduced radiation shielding requirement compared to conventional machines. We were able to install it in a pre-existing treatment room, which was considered obsolete by present day conventional radiotherapy standards. As a result, TomoTherapy technology has allowed us to provide additional treatment capacity without the need for an expensive new build whilst maximising the efficiency of the existing facility. Installation and acceptance testing passed quickly and seamlessly allowing the physics team to concentrate on the clinical commissioning process. This process was reduced to a relatively simple validation exercise as all the beam data required for patient treatment planning was already pre-loaded in to the dedicated planning computer. The collaborative approach presented by TomoTherapy has allowed us to rapidly introduce advanced treatment methodologies in a safe and controlled way. The whole process was greatly enhanced by the support and training offered to us both by TomoTherapy and Oncology Systems Limited.”
James Cook University Hospital, as a publicly funded National Health Service hospital, has firmly embraced this radiotherapy technology as the most advanced treatment in its arsenal and as a cost-effective approach for treating technically complex cases.
“At an extremely difficult economic time, particularly within the public sector, James Cook has above all, upheld its belief in the unsurpassed quality of treatment brought by TomoTherapy,” says Julie Mead, director and clinical advisor at Oncology Systems Ltd. “The whole oncology team, with support from the Trust Management, has worked hard to secure this new technology for the people of the North East of England. Now with its TomoTherapy system in place, James Cook has become a leader in the UK NHS with the ability to offer world class radiotherapy for its patients.”
TomoTherapy technology is developed and manufactured by TomoTherapy Inc. and is supplied in the U.K. by Oncology Systems Limited, based in Shrewsbury, England.
About James Cook University Hospital
Based in the north east of England, JCUH is an NHS Foundation Trust and large district general hospital. The hospital was opened in October 2003 and has a capacity of 1,007 beds. It incorporates the full range of all acute and elective medical and surgical specialties including cardiac surgery, cardiology, renal medicine / haemodialysis, neurosurgery, vascular surgery and the regional spinal injuries unit. The radiotherapy and oncology service delivers an integrated service to a population of approximately one million, extending through Teesside, South Durham and North Yorkshire.
About Oncology Systems Limited
Oncology Systems Limited (OSL), is a privately owned limited company based in Shrewsbury, England. OSL is an exclusive supplier of radiation therapy technology to the UK and Ireland. It distributes TomoTherapy® cancer treatment technology to the UK’s NHS and private radiotherapy facilities, and to both public and private providers in the Republic of Ireland.
About TomoTherapy Incorporated
TomoTherapy Incorporated develops, markets and sells advanced radiation therapy solutions that can be used to treat a wide variety of cancers, from the most common to the most complex. The ring gantry-based TomoTherapy® platform combines integrated CT imaging with conformal radiation therapy to deliver sophisticated radiation treatments with speed and precision while reducing radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. TomoTherapy’s suite of solutions include its flagship Hi·Art® treatment system, which has been used to deliver more than three million CT-guided, helical intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment fractions; the TomoHD™ treatment system, designed to enable cancer centers to treat a broader patient population with a single device; and the TomoMobile™ relocatable radiation therapy solution, designed to improve access and availability of state-of-the-art cancer care. TomoTherapy’s stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol TOMO. To learn more about TomoTherapy, please visit TomoTherapy.com.
©2010 TomoTherapy Incorporated. All rights reserved. TomoTherapy, Tomo, TomoDirect, TQA, the TomoTherapy logo and Hi·Art are among trademarks, service marks or registered trademarks of TomoTherapy Incorporated in the United States and other countries.
Investor Contact:
Thomas E. Powell
Chief Financial Officer
608.824.2800
Email Contact
Media Contacts:
Kevin O’Malley
Director, Corporate Communications
608.824.3384
Email Contact
Susan Lehman
Rockpoint Public Relations
510.832.6006
Email Contact