June 19 2010  |  News Article 

University Hospital Regensburg is one of several European hospitals now treating patients with Oncentra VMAT 

A 70-year-old woman with metastatic cancer in the lumbar vertebrae was one of the first patients treated with Oncentra VMAT rotational radiotherapy at University Hospital in Regensburg, Germany. In one arc of the linac gantry, she received her daily fraction and was ready to return home. VMAT had reduced her time on the hard surface of the treatment table to 4.5 minutes, a third of the time required for a similar IMRT plan. It was a good thing, too, because pain would have made it difficult, if not impossible, for her to remain motionless for the 15 minutes required for IMRT.

In addition to patients with painful spinal metastases, University Hospital Regensburg is using volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) to treat prostate cases. In these cases, organ and tumor motion creates a challenge for precision targeting which can be helped by the faster delivery of VMAT.  Regensburg uses an Elekta system to deliver VMAT treatments. However, as a universal planning system, Oncentra VMAT can create plans for other linacs as well.

University Hospital Regensburg is one of several European hospitals now treating patients with Oncentra VMAT. These include Uppsala Akademiska Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden; Freiburg University Clinic in Freiburg, Germany; and Ospedale di Lecco, in Lecco, Italy.

Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) is a logical advancement of IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy). It offers equal or even better plan quality in shorter treatment time, delivering treatment three to eight times faster, depending on the location of the tumor. Studies comparing IMRT and VMAT have showed similar results in dose distribution and normal tissue sparing. “Our comparison between Oncentra VMAT and IMRT step & shoot plans indicates that the VMAT technique may reduce both monitor units and provide equal coverage of the PTV in full compliance with the dose constraints for organs at risk,” said Laura Masi, PhD, Medical Physics Department, Casa di Cura S. Chiara, Florence, Italy.

"Naturally our aim is to give cancer patients the very best and most effective cancer treatment possible," said Barbara Dobler, PhD, lead physicist, University Hospital Regensburg. "As a leading academic hospital, as well as a training institute for professionals, our standards are quite high. We embrace the progress that technology advancement offers us, but we still critically evaluate new treatment options when they are released to market," added Oliver Kölbl, PhD, head of the department of radiation therapy.

"The recent addition enabling volumetric modulated arc therapy to the Oncentra treatment planning system reinforces the multimodality planning capability of Oncentra that includes brachytherapy and external beam treatments as well," said Jos Lamers, chief executive officer of Nucletron.