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Press Release Source: BrainLAB
Monday July 25, 8:00 am ET
MUNICH, Germany, July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- BrainLAB, a worldwide leading innovator in image-guided medical technology, announced today that the Universitatsklinikum Charite Berlin in Germany has treated its first patients using iPlan RT Treatment Planning, a new fully automated treatment planning system. Through an innovative approach called "Autosegmentation", iPlan RT allows clinicians to visualize areas within a patient's brain that should be spared from radiation by automatically showing sensitive objects as 3- dimensional structures during the treatment planning process. By using the new iPlan RT Image software, clinicians can visualize the precise position of the patient's eyes, optic nerves, chiasm, brainstem as well as many other structures from a "brain atlas" and thereby safely spare these areas from radiation being directed at the patient's brain tumor.
Furthermore, iPlan automatically combines patient scan data from different imaging modalities (CT, MRI and PET imaging) allowing neurosurgeons and clinical oncologists to now precisely pinpoint a patient's tumor shape with greater confidence than with one image set alone.
Reinhard E. Wurm M.D., Consultant Clinical Oncologist at the Universitatsklinikum Charite Berlin, explains, "The new software speeds up the planning process significantly but more importantly ensures greater consistency in treatment planning as more critical structures are defined more accurately than was possible with conventional methods. This approach allows us to define a complete treatment plan in 20 minutes. Particularly for complex treatments with Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) this process is indispensable in assisting us in defining the optimal treatment plan for a given patient indication."
Tim Fox Ph.D., Director of Medical Physics from the Department of Radiation Oncology at Emory Clinic Atlanta, adds, "The new iPlan RT software sets new standards in radiosurgery planning and brings us one step closer to improve accuracy and better outcomes for patient treatment."
Nabil Romanos, BrainLAB's Vice President Radiotherapy, commented, "Autosegmentation is unique to BrainLAB and is the first step in BrainLAB's vision to revolutionize treatment planning for complex tumors. The automation of this critical step in the treatment planning process makes for consistent and more effective treatments for all brain tumor patients."
After planning with iPlan RT is complete, treatment is then undertaken with the BrainLAB Novalis® Shaped Beam Surgery system by utilizing a high- resolution beam shaper allowing radiation to be tailored only to the patient's tumor and not to those sensitive structures visualized in treatment planning.
Novalis treatment is available at over 60 renowned centers worldwide and is used to accurately treat tumors not only in the brain but also in spine, lung, or liver and prostate cancer.
About BrainLAB
BrainLAB, a privately held company headquartered in Munich, Germany, was founded in 1989 and is specialized in the development, manufacture, and marketing of medical technology for radiosurgery / radiotherapy, orthopedics, neurosurgery, and ENT. Among the products developed by BrainLAB are software and hardware components for image-guided surgery and radiotherapy as well as integrated systems for stereotactic radiosurgery. With almost 1,680 systems installed in over 65 countries, BrainLAB is among the market leaders in image- guided medical technology. BrainLAB today employs more than 670 people worldwide and has 15 offices across Europe, Asia, North and South America.
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Source: BrainLAB