TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TOMO)announced today that several clinical presentations at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's 51st ASTRO Annual Meeting -- November 1-5, 2009 in Chicago -- will showcase the use of the TomoTherapy® radiation therapy platform as a vital component in the combined modality approach to treating cancer. Additionally, other presentations will explore how TomoTherapy technology is being employed to treat a growing array of challenging indications.
The TomoTherapy Hi·Art® treatment system is a CT scanner-based device that integrates image guidance and helical radiation therapy delivery for increased accuracy and enhanced tumor targeting. There are more than 250 Hi·Art systems in use around the world. More than 45 presentations will be made at ASTRO, detailing how TomoTherapy technology is helping cancer centers around the world improve cancer care through daily imaging and more precise delivery of radiation to targets throughout the body.
Some of the most compelling presentations focus on how the TomoTherapy Hi·Art system has been used to increase dosage to tumors while minimizing toxicity to patients. As a result, the TomoTherapy system is establishing itself as an effective radiation therapy solution for clinicians seeking to explore a combined modality approach that more effectively treats cancer by combining radiotherapy with chemotherapy and/or surgery. Presentations detailing such approaches include:
- Hypofractionated TomoTherapy with Concomitant Chemotherapy in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Preliminary Results of a Phase I Study -- Scientific Institute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. This study evaluates the use of TomoTherapy technology to treat pancreatic cancer patients who have undergone chemotherapy and had limited options as a result. The TomoTherapy system's computed tomography (CT) imaging capabilities enabled better identification of target movement and resulted in toxicities that were acceptable. Researchers concluded that combining TomoTherapy treatment with chemotherapy provided a promising response rate and offered improvement in patient outcomes.
- Prospective Phase I/II Trial of Helical TomoTherapy with or without Chemotherapy for Postoperative Cervical Cancer Patients and Prospective Phase I/II Trial of Helical TomoTherapy, Intracavitary Brachytherapy, and Concurrent Chemotherapy in Patients with Cervical Cancer -- both studies from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. These presentations explore use of the TomoTherapy system as the external beam component of a treatment plan that included surgery and helical TomoTherapy, as well as evaluating the addition of chemotherapy. Researchers concluded that the TomoTherapy system's ability to reduce toxicities provides new options for clinicians in overall patient management.
- Excellent Biochemical Control and Late Toxicity after Moderately Hypofractionated Adjuvant Helical TomoTherapy: Updated Results of a Phase I-II Study -- Scientific Institute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; IBFM-National Research Council, Cefalù (Palermo), Italy; and Prostate Program, Fondazione IRCCS-Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy. A 45-month follow-up study showed positive results for patients classified as having high-risk prostate cancer who were treated with TomoTherapy radiation therapy following surgery. Researchers reported that local control and toxicity rates were acceptable and outcomes of patients who had TomoTherapy treatments and surgery were markedly better than those treated by conventional means.
- Preoperative, Moderately Hypofractionated Radiotherapy with Image-guided TomoTherapy Concomitant to Chemotherapy in Rectal Adenocarcinoma: Early Results of a Phase II Study -- Scientific Institute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. Similarly to those previously mentioned, this study evaluates the use of TomoTherapy radiation therapy as part of a combined modality approach in treating rectal cancer. Researchers concluded that a regimen of moderately hypofractionated TomoTherapy with concurrent chemotherapy seems to be effective and has an acceptable rate of acute toxicity, and believes that a Phase II study comparing this treatment with a conventional delivered bi-fractionated regimen is warranted.
ASTRO presentations also include investigation of the TomoTherapy Hi·Art system's use in treating indications that previously had limited applicability for radiation therapy. These new studies include: