2 October 2011
A brachytherapy solution that enables very precise dose delivery for gynecologic cancers
May 17 2010 | Press Release
Veenendaal, Netherlands (May 17, 2010) – Cancer patients at the University Hospital Regensburg (UHR) in Germany are among the first in the world to receive treatment with Oncentra® VMAT, a new planning solution for rotational radiation therapy. Oncentra VMAT, is a truly independent and fully open rotational planning solution within the Oncentra external beam treatment planning system, which supports image-guided photon, electron and proton treatment delivery. The open and flexible architecture provides independence and allows for the fastest calculation times when creating VMAT plans for any brand of linac. Patients benefit from treatments that are shorter in duration with a radiation dose that is targeted with unprecedented precision.
A major trend in cancer treatment is the increasing accuracy with which radiation therapy is delivered to the tumor. For patients, precision is key to effectively eliminate the cancer cells, whilst avoiding damage to surrounding healthy tissues. The University Hospital Regensburg is the first center in Germany to treat patients with Oncentra VMAT. Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) is a logical advancement of its already advanced predecessor 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. For clinics using either Varian or Elekta accelerators Oncentra offers the next generation planning capability including support for single arc, dual arc and skip arc techniques.
"Naturally our aim is to give cancer patients the very best and most effective cancer treatment possible," said Prof. Dr. Kölbl, head of the department of radiation therapy and Dr. Dobler, the institute's leading physicist. "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."
"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.
Since the cancer center at University Hospital Regensburg (UHR) in Germany went live, Oncentra VMAT is now being used to treat patients at three additional European hospitals including Uppsala Akademiska Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden; Freiburg University Clinic in Freiburg, Germany; and Ospedale di Lecco, in Lecco, Italy.
About University Hospital Regensburg The University Hospital Regensburg (UKR) is the only University Hospital and Academic Medical Center in Eastern Bavaria, a region with approximately 2 million inhabitants. Dedicated to supporting the Medical Faculty of the University of Regensburg in research and teaching, final exams show regularly, that it has achieved one of the most important goals: top quality teaching and the training of competent medical staff.
About 29,000 in-patients and 80,000 out-patients are treated here every year. The University Hospital has 833 beds and 40 day clinic treatment places and employs more than 3,500 members of staff: over 550 physicians and more than 1.000 nurses. The hospital accommodates 22 different departments and institutions as well as 6 clinical-theoretical institutes. The department of radiation therapy treats around 1200 patients per year on three linear accelerators and one afterloading device. The UKR has become the most efficient tertiary health care provider in Germany. Our state-of-the-art medical equipment is continuously upgraded to meet the ever-increasing demands. Particularly large medical devices such as, for example, PET-CT meet the standard of top international hospitals.
About Nucletron Established in 1975, Nucletron provides state of the art radiotherapy solutions for cancer treatment that meet the evolving needs of patients, their carers and healthcare professionals around the world. Nucletron has unmatched global leadership in brachytherapy, a very precise, highly effective and well tolerated treatment option tailored to the needs of individual patients. Nucletron works with clinical teams to constantly improve and develop an innovative portfolio of integrated products, software and services to ensure excellent patient outcomes. Headquartered in Veenendaal, The Netherlands, Nucletron employs more than 500 employees in 15 countries. Nucletron’s products are available in more than 100 countries around the world. For more information about Nucletron’s healthcare solutions, visit http://www.nucletron.com/. To learn more about brachytherapy, visit http://www.aboutbrachytherapy.com/.