August 18 2003
VEENENDAAL, THE NETHERLANDS – August 12, 2003 – Nucletron B.V., one of the world’s leading providers of life-saving radiotherapy equipment and information software, announces the FDA 510(k) clearance and world wide release of the first commercially available real-time intraoperative treatment planning system for high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy used in treating prostate cancer. SWIFT™ is enriched with features designed to simplify and improve the speed, accuracy and effectiveness of prostate cancer treatments. The development of SWIFT™ was in close cooperation with Dr. Alvaro Martinez and Greg Edmundson, M.S. of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI, USA and Drs. Nikolaos Zamboglou and Dimos Baltas of the Klinikum Offenbach, Germany. According to Dr. Martinez, the pioneer of real-time HDR treatment planning, “the real-time capability greatly improves implant quality in two ways: by guiding the physician on pre-selecting optimal needle distribution and by providing real-time guidance on needle placement to improve speed and accuracy. This instills and increases self-confidence for Radiation Oncologists and Urologists performing the prostate implant.” High dose rate brachytherapy produces the ultimate degree in conformal dose delivery by modulating the treatment source spatial positions and dwell times. As such, the radiation dose is delivered at the precise site intended - the implanted area. In contrast, IMRT can produce an excellent isodose plan in the computer but it does not guarantee the delivery process. Nucletron SWIFT™ treatment planning, based on live ultrasound imaging, enables a clinician to generate a 3D volume, create a treatment plan, place needles, evaluate and optimize needle placement and treatment dosages, and begin patient treatment all within one hour. With SWIFT™ the clinician creates a conformal treatment plan during the implantation procedure, allowing needle adjustment while in the operating room to generate the most optimal treatment plan. This also offers the possibility to give the first treatment while the patient is still in the operating room. “Real-time treatment planning enhances the concept of physician intraoperative guidance, says Dr. Martinez. What is revolutionary more than evolutionary is the ability to guide Radiation Oncologists and Urologists throughout the prostate implant procedure.” Prior to the development of SWIFT™, each of these steps, as well as post implantation CT imaging had to be executed separately, adversely affecting implant quality feedback, patient scheduling, and time to first treatment. Rudolf Scholte, President of Nucletron B.V. asserts that "the new SWIFT™ system demonstrates Nucletron’s strength as a world leader in brachytherapy and its dedication to innovation and customer intimacy. With this groundbreaking solution, Nucletron clearly helps doctors and physicists to create the future of image-based brachytherapy. It is important to note that SWIFT™ has been developed in close cooperation with and by specific requests from leading clinicians.” CONTACTS:
About Nucletron B.V. Nucletron specializes in the development, manufacture, sales, service and support of the world’s most innovative products for cancer treatment and information management. It is already acknowledged as a well-respected oncology partner by its loyal customer base. As a company, Nucletron’s guiding principle is the customer’s demand for quality, safety and reliability. It is committed to continuous innovative research and development, consistently reinvesting a set proportion of its turnover. This forward-thinking approach has made it possible to successfully treat cancers at many body sites, including the prostate, breast, cervix, ovary, bladder, brain, head and neck, lung, and esophagus. Nucletron is proud that curative or palliative (pain relieving) treatment using its products helps to improve the quality of so many patients’ lives. The company has 20 offices worldwide, including its corporate headquarters in The Netherlands. Nucletron is the world leader in remote afterloading brachytherapy, supplying the majority of all systems worldwide. Nucletron B.V. is a subsidiary of Delft Instruments N.V., http://www.delftinstruments.com/, an international group of companies with some 1000 employees and annual sales of almost €200 million. For more information on Nucletron, please visit www.nucletron.com. About William Beaumont Hospital Beaumont includes more than 2,400 private-practice physicians, two hospitals with five medical office buildings, a rehabilitation and health center, primary and specialty care clinics, five extended care centers, a research institute, home care, and a hospice. Beaumont's 997-bed hospital in Royal Oak is a major teaching and referral center with Level I trauma designation. It ranks first in the nation for inpatient admissions and outpatient surgeries. Beaumont's 226-bed acute care facility in Troy is among the nations leading community hospitals, ranking first in Michigan and seventh in the nation for inpatient admissions and first in the nation for total surgeries among hospitals in its bed-size category. The Beaumont Radiation Oncology Department, under the leadership of Alvaro Martinez, MD, FACR, is the largest provider of radiotherapy and brachytherapy treatments in the state of Michigan and is also a world leader in teaching, innovation, new technology development and translational research on both external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy. For more information on Beaumont, please visit www.beaumonthospitals.com