Elekta has announced its Clarity 4D prostate monitoring system can now automatically interrupt the radiation beam when it detects the prostate has moved out of its original position.
A major part of radiation therapy involves CT simulation, however, due to limited soft tissue visualization, the ability to characterize and target specific surrounding structures can sometimes be inhibited.
The Clarity 4D Monitoring software is a type of hybrid imaging technology that can integrate any external beam radiation therapy workflow and equipment, allowing for simulation, planning and treatment of prostate tumors.
Furthermore, it is not as costly as dedicated MRIs, and it allows superior soft tissue visualization in addition to the existing CT simulation.
This hybrid system acquires images during the CT acquisition procedure, allowing pictures from both techniques to be fused and integrated for an improved workflow.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510(k) clearance to use Clarity together with Elekta’s Response gating interface, ultimately resulting in the capacity to preserve a patient’s normal tissues from unnecessary exposure to radiation during prostate radiotherapy, a feature available with Elekta’s advanced Versa HD™ radiation therapy treatment system.
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“The Clarity system permits clinicians to set the amount of prostate movement allowable over a given period, for example, three or five millimeters for a five-second period, depending on the dose rate and other factors. When Clarity detects anything over this limit, the treatment is automatically paused to allow clinicians to correct for the motion. This could be especially important for clinicians pursuing advanced prostate protocols, such as reduced margin hypofractionated therapy or stereotactic body radiation therapy [SBRT]”, Tony Falco, Senior Vice President, Elekta Software, explained in a company’s press release.
Elekta is a pioneer in clinical innovation solutions for treating different types of cancer, developing state-of-the-art solutions for radiation therapy, radiosurgery and brachytherapy. Just recently, Radiation Therapy News reported on MOSAIQ® OIS, a patient information management system that has the ability to centralize radiation oncology, particle therapy and medical oncology patient data all into one single user interface, in an attempt to improve the integration of radiation therapy treatment and planning systems of multiple providers.
