Welcome to the June e-Lectron enews from RadPro.
This month’s feature is a General review and update of Radiotherapy Products and Services. There is also a preview of Radiotherapy companies attending UKRC in Manchester from the 8th to 10th June. www.ukrc.org.uk
Please click on the links provided for more detailed information and please use the email contacts shown.
Contents of this issue:
Google searches reveal the RadPro e-Lectron enews is extremely popular and regularly appears in the first listings page! .
Radiotherapy Companies
If you have any products that are ex-demonstration, ex-stock, end of line, discounted, second hand or used, you may wish to advertise them for sale to our international audience. Simply contact admin@RadPro.eu with your advert and we will put it online immediately.
Radiotherapy Professionals
If you have a requirement for a specific piece of equipment at a discounted price or used, all you have to do is send us your request to admin@RadPro.eu and we can submit that to the Buy and Sell Bay for companies to respond to.
e-Lectron will be running more than one special feature in some future editions due to popular demand, if you have any specific topics or requests, please let us know. Please email admin@RadPro.eu with your suggestions about features you found particularly interesting and would like us to return to in the coming months.
Here is a list of popular special features we have run.
- Advances in Carbon fibre, thermoplastics and immobilisation systems
- Prostate Brachytherapy
- Automated Patient set up and alignment systems, position and motion tracking
- Advances in Superficial therapy systems
- Proton Therapy
- Advances in IGRT
- CT simulation and virtual simulation
- Advances in the treatment of Prostate cancer
- How useful is IMRT
- Exhibition previews
- Brachytherapy news
- What’s new in Radiotherapy, products and techniques
- Commissioning and implementation of IGRT systems.
- Radiation shielding and bunker design
- Advances in patient immobilisation and mould room technology
- International recruitment
- International website review
- Student training and education in Radiotherapy
Did you miss a recent e-Lectron or would like to refer back to a published article? Previous editions are stored at www.e-lectron.co.uk
Click to see the contents of April and May 2009 e-Lectron newsletters
The discussion forum now contains new product focused discussion topics and a new facility to subscribe to email alerts when a new message in a specific category is posted…more innovative lead generation tools from RadPro
A selection of brief news from leading international Radiotherapy companies and a link to the page on their website where that information is stored. Just click on the link to read more about the information you are interested in!
DIB Production are Europe’s leading manufacturer and supplier of radiation shielding doors. They have a brand new website for your to review
www.dib-radioprotection.com
DHA can provide an innovative Intelligent CCTV system for Radiotherapy centres that combines conventional CCTV with patient motion tracking and movement alarms, increasing safety and security for patients undergoing IMRT and other automated treatments
http://www.dha.co.uk/patient_positioning_monitoring.html
www.orfit.com
Precision has always been, and always will remain, the main drive in Radiation Oncology to improve the existing techniques and to adopt changes in the existing treatment routines. It is this search for improvement of the overall precision of cancer treatment that has led to the introduction of new techniques like IGRT, Adaptive RT (ART), Real Time Robotic Techniques.
At the same time, clinicians have gained a better understanding of the importance of accurate immobilization throughout the treatment. The regular imaging that these new techniques rely on very often show how difficult it is to get a patient in exactly the same position for each fraction and it even reveals how big the shifts can be during a single fraction. It is impossible to fulfil the goal of a near to 100% control over the position of the target at all times during the whole treatment if one cannot rely on a good patient positioning and immobilization system. Very often the standard immobilization devices will not deliver the precision and reproducibility needed for these treatments because they leave too much room for the patients to move.
Therefore Orfit Industries has created, on demand of users of IGRT and ART techniques, its range of Hybrid Masks to overcome the before mentioned positioning and immobilization problems. These reinforced thermoplastic masks offer the same ease of use of normal thermoplastic masks but add an unparalleled horizontal stability thanks to an increased fixation force. Together with the unique Orfit High Precision Head Supports with cranial stop, the Hybrid Masks allow clinicians to obtain the best in immobilization and positioning.
Even the largest patients with broad shoulders will be immobilized properly with the 5-point versions of these masks because of the reinforced rim around the mask and over the chin and shoulders, resulting in great control over the actual position of the patient positioning and patients head. The new laser welded winged profiles on these masks in the Orfit Raycast High Precision range assure easy handling for the staff when putting these masks on and off patients. At the same time, they offer an even better and more stable fixation of the mask to the base plates.
The range of these Hybrid Masks consists of a 3-point head only pre-cut, a 4-point head & neck pre-cut and a 5-point head & neck pre-cut for use on the Orfit Industries Raycast High Precision hardware. Orfit Industries now also offers a 3-point and a 5-point Hybrid pre-cut with profiles with push-pins for those customers that have non-Orfit multipoint hardware (not for U-shaped frames).
Contact:
An.Plomteux@orfit.com or Marc.Shilders@orfit.com for more information on Orfit products.
BrachyVision Acuros Enables Superior Dose Calculation with Unmatched Speed
Charlottesville, Virginia, May 14th 2009 – A significantly more accurate* way of calculating the dosimetry of cancer treatments was introduced by Varian Medical Systems at the GEC-ESTRO exhibition in Porto, Portgual, on May 14-16. BrachyVision™Acuros™ enables clinicians to rapidly calculate patient doses for brachytherapy treatments (a form of radiotherapy) with an extremely high level of accuracy.
“This is a quantum leap forward in terms of accuracy with timeframes that were previously thought unimaginable,” says Sophie Wetherall, Varian BrachyTherapy software product manager. “BrachyVision Acuros offers an improvement in dose calculation that will help clinicians make better decisions about dose to their patients and further their knowledge to make treatments more accurate.”
Dose levels for brachytherapy have generally been calculated as if the sources are surrounded by water, whereas in reality a patient’s anatomy contains many different materials such as bone, lung, tissue and air, as well as additional materials that are often present from inserted applicators. In the past the only way to account for this was using Monte Carlo calculation techniques, something that was only available as a research tool. Now, for the first time in routine clinical brachytherapy, BrachyVision Acuros is able to account for the dose effects from these variations.
BrachyVision Acuros calculation times tend to average between three and eight minutes depending on the applicator used,” adds Sophie Wetherall. “By comparison, the same calculations could take hours or days using the standard Monte Carlo method.”
Acuros, developed by Transpire Inc., is an optimized, radiotherapy-specific rewrite of the software product Attila®, and Varian is working exclusively with Transpire to bring the benefits of this fast and precise calculation method to the radiation oncology field. In so doing, Varian becomes the only brachytherapy supplier with this capability in a commercially available product.
BrachyVision Acuros, which uses a technique best described as a ‘Grid-Based Boltzmann Solver’ (GBBS), is the most significant additional feature of Varian’s latest brachytherapy treatment planning software offering, BrachyVision 8.8. The full system will be demonstrated for the first time at GEC-ESTRO.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Varian Medical Systems in introducing the Acuros technology to the clinic,” says Gregory Failla, chief executive officer of Transpire, Inc. “Varian’s leading position in the worldwide radiation oncology market ensures that the maximum number of patients will benefit from the improved treatment quality made possible by BrachyVision Acuros.”
Todd Wareing, Transpire’s chief technology officer, adds, “The release of BrachyVision Acuros marks the culmination of decades of research, first at Los Alamos National Laboratory and then at Transpire, in the development of rapid and accurate alternatives to traditional Monte Carlo based methods.”
Brachytherapy is a very well established form of radiotherapy which is used routinely to treat a wide range of cancers, including gynaecological, prostate, head & neck, skin and lung. It is often delivered in combination with external beam radiotherapy.
*Compared to standard techniques using the American Association of Physicists in Medicine TG43 formulism.
Editorial contact: Neil Madle, Varian Medical Systems, +44 7786 526068
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| Installed on an Elekta linac |
CT image of AirPlateTM with circular phantom |
SPECIFICATION:
- . low attenuation (< 1.7%)
- . simplified treatment planning
- . accurate dose delivery in IMRT, IGRT and VMAT
- . artefact free images in CT and IGRT
- . large treatment area (48 x 110 cm) with uniform cross-section
- . reduced skin reactions
- . low weight (11 kg)
- . easy to remove/change plate
- . white colour for better laser line visibility
- . indexing
- . accessory rails (optional)
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During operation the AirPlateTM table plate is locked
to the docking unit (adaptor) on the couch base. |
ONCOlog Medical is a Swedish company with its business dedicated to innovative solutions in
Radiotherapy. Our mission is to bring better radiotherapy to more people by providing
qualified products for better accuracy, comfort and efficiency “ACE” in cancer care.
ONCOlog Medical QA AB Vallvägen 4B, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden,
Tel. +46 18 19 45 65, Fax +46 18 30 06 85,
E-Mail: info@oncologmedical.com
www.oncologmedical.com |
Booth no 309
Contact Dawn Broadhead
email dawn.broadhead@qados.co.uk
Qados distributes a wide range of dosimetry and diagnostic equipment
to the Health Service in the UK and Ireland including:
- Radcal - QA equipment for diagnostic QA
- Faxitron - X-ray imaging cabinets
- Wellhofer/Scanditronix (IBA Dosimetry) - Dosimetry equipment for radiotherapy and diagnostic x-ray
- Technegas - for lung ventilation studies
- Thermo Fisher Scientific - TLD systems for patient and personnel monitoring
- Ulrich - contrast injectors for CT and MRI
- Par Scientific - Vac Fix Bags for Immobilisation during MRI treatments
Qados provides a high level of customer and service support for all the products offered.
Please visit our website at www.qados.co.uk for further information regarding our product portfolio.
Company: www.CompareRad.com and www.RadPro.eu
Booth: No 113
Contact:Duncan Hynd
Email: Duncan@dha.co.uk
Welcome to CompareRad, the new and innovative product comparison site from RadPro, a one stop web-shop for all your product and service information needs, saving you time and effort and making choosing equipment and services easier. With a hit rate in excess of 1 million per year and a dedicated international radiotherapy and radiology readership-www.CompareRad.com is another innovative web-tool from RadPro! www.CompareRad.com also generates and delivers well-defined product leads and requests for information directly to registered companies. Email us on admin@RadPro.eu to register your business NOW!
Booth 412
PTW designs, develops, manufactures and distributes high quality dosimetry and Quality Control equipment mainly for use in the medical field, especially in radiation therapy, diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine.
QA and Dosimetry in Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine
Electrometers and ionization chambers,
CT- dosimetry and QA
Non-invasive kVp-meters
DAP-Meters: the.PTW DIAMENTOR series
Test objects for the Diagnostic Radiology
Test objects for Radiography,Radioscopy, Mammography
Test objects for digital radiography
Phantoms CT, CTDI
QA solutions for Radiotherapy
• Absolute Dosimetry - dosemeters, electrometers, radiation detectors and
calibration phantoms
• Patient and Brachytherapy Dosimetry
• Waterphantom dosimetry systems.
• Quality Control - test equipment
http://www.PTW-UK.com
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Click here for more Radiotherapy vacancies
For Radiology Jobs, click here to enter the International Radiology Job Pages.
weblink: http://www.radpro.org.uk/jobs_radiology.html
- July 2009 Logistics in Radiotherapy and Radiology and new advances in Brachytherapy
- August 2009 Private finance initiatives (PFI), Private delivery centres and financial services in Radiotherapy, special international feature!
- September 2009 Low voltage X ray therapy systems special feature and advances in IGRT
- October 2009 What’s new in IMRT special feature
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Please send you editorial, corporate or clinical, suggestions and any questions to admin@RadPro.eu
Duncan Hynd,
June 2009
