Improving Efficacy and Lowering Proton Therapy Cost
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) September 20, 2013 -- P-Cure will commence a retrospective clinical study to demonstrate the effectiveness of P-Cure's technology for adaptive proton radiotherapy with fixed pencil-beam scanning (PBS) systems for proton delivery. The aim is to demonstrate effectiveness to replace or augment multi-gantry proton therapy facilities.
At ASTRO conference in Atlanta [September 22-25], P-Cure will provide the first case study that demonstrates a possibility to use the fixed PBS delivery in treatment of complex cancers at the base of skull -- nasopharyngeal cancers.
Later this Fall, P-Cure will evaluate the superior quality of breast and lung cancer proton treatments, also delivered from a fixed beam using PBS. The generated treatment plans will be compared with the treatment plans generated for x-ray and for existing expensive proton therapy settings using 100+ton gantries.
“Proton therapy is rapidly evolving to overcome the two major challenges to its wider adoption: the high setup cost and insufficient efficacy,” says Michael Marash, P-Cure CEO. “Lowering capital and operating costs will allow proton therapy to be more accessible to the patients, and greater precision throughout the treatment process will assure that proton therapy is the Gold Standard for treatment and cure with minimal treatment-related side effects.”
“The benefits of proton beam have been demonstrated in many studies showing more conformal treatment plans than can be achieved with photons. Nevertheless, the wide adaptation of proton beams, particularly in countries with limited health care budgets, has been hampered by the two challenges of cost and efficiency. An additional benefit of the P-Cure solution is the high quality real-time imaging improving the accuracy of treatment delivery and enabling adaptive proton therapy,” says Dr. Raphael Pfeffer, the Chairman of Oncology Institute at Assuta Medical Center in Israel.
Both the P-Cure solution, which integrates the diagnostic imaging and adaptive therapy approaches in a turn-key system, combined with PBS, is expected to provide treatment efficacy never delivered before and to reduce the capital cost of proton therapy setup and use. The proprietary P-Cure P-ArtTM Adaptive Proton Therapy System enables the treatment plan to precisely modify the proton beam to real-time changes in tumor anatomy. The PBS is the enabler for a full realization of advantages of adaptive proton therapy.
“Adaptive Proton Therapy is the foundation for the next generation of proton therapy, which is not only safer, but more effective and substantially less expensive. This patient-specific strategy, combined with Pencil Proton Beam Scanning, is superior to all other forms of radiation therapy,” according to Prof. Hanne Kooy, Director of Physics at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the study collaborator.
Reduction in capital cost both makes proton centers more economically viable and promises greater access to patients who can benefit from proton therapy. Because of the high capital costs, proton therapy is available to less than one percent of those patients who could benefit from it. The use of proton beams enables radiation oncologists to deliver higher radiation doses to neutralize cancers while sparing surrounding normal organs and tissues. Proton therapy is minimally invasive; recovery is enhanced and patients retain a high quality of life after recovery.
“The P-Cure comprehensive solution to capital cost reduction, and reduced operating costs, is only part of our value to hospitals and proton developers,” says Marash. “Incorporating our system into a proposed proton center allows maximum flexibility as the technology develops. Our system is expandable, compatible to scanning protocols, and includes Adaptive Proton Therapy for accurate beam placement on the fly. The combination of reduced cost, enhanced beam precision, and greater flexibility to incorporate technological improvements creates significant advantages to proton vendors and hospital users.”
About P-Cure:
P-Cure, an innovative high tech company, develops and manufactures solutions for more effective delivery of proton therapy at a fraction of the current capital and operating costs. The P-Cure solution is an accelerator-complementary image-guided positioning and treatment adaptation solution. Combined with a beam delivery system of its partners the P-Cure integrated solution is capable of supporting the entire proton treatment course. The first product of P-Cure, the P-Art patient positioning software, was cleared by the FDA in 2010. The P-Cure solution is compatible with all vendors, developers and turnkey offerings. The first P-Cure clinical system is to be installed in a ProCure Center. http://www.p-cure.com.
VISIT P-CURE at ASTRO, Exhibit Hall Booth 2554
Stephen Jacobs, P-Cure Ltd, http://www.p-cure.com, 1-917-346-8619, [email protected]
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