Tuesday, TomoTherapy Inc. (TOMO) said a research study published in International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, commonly known as the Red Journal, indicated that TomoTherapy treatment times could be reduced by up to 66% using advanced radiation delivery techniques. In addition, these techniques can improve plan quality by further minimizing the amount of radiation normal tissue received, the study found.
The study, named Dynamic Jaws and Dynamic Couch in Helical TomoTherapy, was done by Dr. Florian Sterzing of the Department of Radiation Oncology at University Clinic Heidelberg to explore the benefits of the Advanced TomoTherapy Delivery Technique. This technique relies on a dynamic collimator that can automatically adjust the size of the radiation beam to optimize dosage at the target and spare surrounding healthy tissue. Another key component is a patient couch that can be designed to accelerate treatment time by moving faster between target tumors or in those areas that do not require high doses of radiation.
The TomoHD treatment system would be commercially available in the second half of 2010 and has been designed to support the Advanced TomoTherapy Delivery Technique.
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