New solution for cancer therapy from Siemens: IM-RealART solution adapts treatment and therapy planning to anatomical changes

One of Siemens Healthcare’s highlights of this year’s Conference of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) is IM-RealART™ Solution for adaptive radiotherapy. With IM-RealART, treatment plans for radiotherapy can be adapted especially fast to changes in the shape and position of tumors. The treatment plan is revised even while the patient is still lying on the treatment table. This means that the radiation fields and dose are recalculated directly before the next fraction is irradiated.

With IM-RealART, Siemens Healthcare offers a new solution for especially fast replanning of treatment plans in adaptive radiotherapy. The solution includes the Siemens products Artiste™ Solution (linear accelerator), the 550TxT™ treatment table, the CTVision™ System for diagnostic CT (computed tomography) imaging and the RealART™ planning system from Prowess Inc.

One of the special advantages of IM-RealART is CTVision. Using this system, top quality “gold standard” images of tumors can be taken directly in the treatment room using a CT scanner running on rails. While the patient lies immobilized on the treatment table, the current scans are compared to the original ones on which the treatment planning was based and evaluated.

If the shape of the tumor has changed, the treatment plan can be adapted immediately in order to correct the shape of the treatment radiation field as well as the dose. This recalculation is usually performed in just seven minutes. Since the patient’s position is not changed during this period, it is possible to irradiate the tumor with high precision. Using the 160MLC™ multileaf collimator from Siemens, the radiation field can be confined to the tumor very precisely, thus saving the surrounding tissue.

IM-RealART can be combined with the Siemens solution IM-Confident™ Plan, which consists of Artiste with the 160MLC and an intelligent irradiation planning software. These components help reduce the treatment time required for intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to five minutes or even less.

IM-RealART and IM-Confident from Siemens offer two solutions which, on the one hand, make daily workflows in radiooncology much simpler and more efficient while, at the same time, enabling high precision patient treatment: Using innovative technologies, the tumor is irradiated with pinpoint accuracy while the latest software and imaging ensure that planning, replanning and therapy all proceed as swiftly as possible. This corresponds to Siemens’ philosophy for radiotherapy: To achieve rapid and precise treatment while sparing the patient undue discomfort.

The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the largest suppliers of healthcare technology worldwide. The company is a medical solution provider with core competences and innovative strengths in diagnostic and therapeutic technologies as well as knowledge processing, including information technology and system integration. With its acquisitions in laboratory diagnostics, Siemens Healthcare is the first integrated healthcare company that combines imaging and lab diagnostics, therapy solutions and medical information technology and also supplements these with consultation and services. Siemens Healthcare offers solutions for the entire supply chain under one roof - from prevention and early detection to diagnosis and to treatment and aftercare. In addition, Siemens Healthcare is the global brand leader for innovative hearing aids. Siemens Healthcare currently has around 49,000 employees worldwide and is represented in more than 130 countries. During fiscal 2008 (ending on September 30), Siemens Healthcare achieved a total sales volume of € 11.17 billion and incoming orders totaling € 11.78 billion. The Group earnings amounted to € 1.23 billion.

For more information, go to: http://www.siemens.com/healthcare