TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TOMO) announced today that the first patients are now being treated with the TomoDirect™ radiation therapy delivery mode at the University of Virginia Cancer Center. The addition of the TomoDirect modality to the TomoTherapy® platform gives clinicians an efficient new option that expands their ability to fight cancer.
TomoDirect is a non-rotational delivery mode developed as a clinical complement to the TomoHelical™ continuous 360-degree delivery mode. The TomoDirect delivery option enables users to quickly plan and deliver advanced TomoTherapy(SM) radiation treatments with a series of linear beam paths, rather than a single helical delivery path.
With the TomoDirect mode, clinicians can choose two or more discrete angles for optimal target coverage and define a modulation level -- or opt for tissue-compensated 3D conformal delivery -- based on specific patient therapy goals. Planning and treatment times are significantly reduced due to the use of far fewer treatment beams, with planning taking as little as 10 minutes and delivery as little as two minutes.