Chiba Cancer Center Sees Improved Patient Results With the Implementation of FOCUS IMRT Treatments.

Business/Health Editors & Medical Writers

ST. LOUIS--(BW HealthWire)--March 15, 2001

Members of the staff of Chiba Cancer Center in Chiba, Japan, have recently presented papers that have detailed what they see as improved outcomes for several patients after they began treatments using the newly advanced technique of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). These treatments were begun shortly after the addition of IMRT Planning to the Center's FOCUS 3-D RTP System.

Dr. Y. Narita, performed extensive testing of CMS' IMRT module prior to first clinical use. Dr. Narita presented a paper of the results of this validation effort recently at a major meeting of Japanese physicists comparing FOCUS IMRT calculations to phantom and BangGel measurements. Excellent agreement was reached between FOCUS IMRT calculations and measured data.

Dr. Kazuo Hatano, the Director of Oncology at Chiba Cancer Center, indicated that the center has been clinically treating patients using FOCUS IMRT for planning and utilizing a Varian linear accelerator equipped with a 120-leaf Multi Leaf Collimator (MLC) since November, 2000.

Patients with a variety of different types of cancers including prostate, breast, as well as head and neck have been treated to date. The Center has implemented a technique generally utilizing 30-40 discrete segments in total for all fields using a "step and shoot" delivery method.

A major benefit of FOCUS IMRT is the ability to optimize IMRT with respect to conventional photon plans, taking the conventional dose distributions into account during optimization, not just simple summation of dose. Additionally, IMRT and electron plans may be combined in FOCUS IMRT. For example, Dr. Hatano delivered a breast case with a very good photon IMRT plan. He pointed out even though the IMRT plan was excellent, the area near the skin surface did not get enough dose, so he performed a boost treatment utilizing electrons. Dr. Hatano felt "...this kind of case cannot be treated properly with IMRT alone, and requires the electron boost." Dr. Hatano further stated "FOCUS IMRT is a good additional tool to have for the treatment of patients" and indicated that he is eagerly awaiting the IMRT enhancements and additional capabilities that will be provided in FOCUS release 3.0.0 shortly.

Doug Sprague, President and CEO of CMS stated, "CMS is excited by the major step that Chiba Cancer Center has made. Over 50 licenses for this innovative technology have been delivered to CMS customers worldwide since FDA 510K clearance was received in October, 2000. Currently, there are a large number of CMS sites worldwide in the process of completing final quality assurance work that will allow full clinical treatment planning with FOCUS IMRT."

Yasuo Ashino, President of the recently formed CMS Japan, KK stated "Chiba Cancer Center is a valued customer of CMS and is a highly respected cancer center with a worldwide reputation for research with a focus on patient care. CMS congratulates the president of Chiba Cancer Center, Dr. Nagayama, Dr. Hatano, the Director of the department, as well as the entire staff on achieving this important milestone."

Chiba Cancer Center was founded in 1972 based upon three major principles, 1) provision of state-of-the-art medicine to cancer patients, 2) promotion and expansion of research activities related to how and why cancer develops as well as determining effective treatments for cancer in conjunction with the incorporation of the latest technology, 3) training of cancer specialists and educating the public on the importance of the early detection and treatment of cancer. The center conducts up-to-date diagnosis, treatment and research on cancer and provides high quality nursing care for its patients. Chiba Cancer Center embarked on a focused effort to acquire state-of-the-art radiotherapy technology in 1995 and has become a leading research center for Radiation Oncology in Japan. Chiba has made it a point to better integrate cancer research into a more clinically oriented environment for the benefit of the patient. All of Chiba Cancer Center's treatment planning is performed on FOCUS.

Computerized Medical Systems, Inc. manufactures, markets and supports Focus 3-D and Focus 2-D Radiation Treatment Planning Systems, Focal PC-based applications, as well as DynaScan, a Dosimetry system for beam data collection. CMS is the worldwide market share leader in RTP with over 1,000 3-D RTP systems installed. Offices are located worldwide with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri and regional offices in Lucerne, Switzerland, Tokyo, Japan, and Hong Kong. For further information on CMS, please visit the CMS Website at http://www.cms-stl.com or call CMS at 800/878-4267 or 314/993-0003.