The University Clinic Tubingen and Computerized Medical Systems, Inc. Announce a Research Agreement.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

ST. LOUIS--(BW HealthWire)--Aug. 31, 2001

Computerized Medical Systems, Inc. (CMS) and the Radiotherapy Department of the University Clinic Tubingen (UKT) announced entering into a research and development agreement to produce commercialized versions of the next upcoming generation of advanced Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) tools as well as an ultra-fast Monte Carlo Dose Calculation engine purpose built for radiotherapy applications.

UKT has developed a modular tool for clinical IMRT called "Hyperion" that incorporates both biological and physical objective functions. Biological modeling in IMRT allows clinicians to prescribe desirable outcomes rather than simply prescribing dose. "Hyperion" also utilizes a high performance Monte Carlo dose computation engine to provide much more accurate head-scatter and field shape modeling than pencil-beam based algorithms that are predominant in commercial IMRT systems today (unlike CMS' current FOCUS(R) IMRT that uses FFT/Convolution and MultiGrid Superposition). "Hyperion" further enhances the practicality of dynamic Multi-Leaf Collimator (MLC) for treatment delivery through new innovations in segmentation science -- building complex fluences with minimum delivery time and maximum output. Another benefit of "Hyperion" is the fact that it will operate in a desktop PC environment similar to the Focal products now offered by CMS. The optimization of beam portal directions and the development of NTCP models, including temporal planning aspects (time fractionation), are also works in progress with "Hyperion" at UKT. "Hyperion" clearly represents a major leap in technology and the next logical step in IMRT capability.

Clinicians are hesitant to use IMRT to its full potential, even with advanced superposition algorithms, given the fact that small uncertainties in dose calculation can have a significant cumulative effect limiting the efficacy of treatment. They currently impose self-restraint when prescribing doses and are not always able to treat as aggressively as they desire. In the future, Monte Carlo dose calculation techniques are undoubtedly going to be a necessary part of IMRT to satisfy the requirements for increased planning confidence.

UKT has developed, in cooperation with the University of Leipzig and the National Research Council of Canada (Ottawa), a fast Monte Carlo Dose Calculation for radiation treatment planning called XVMC. The XVMC software package is 40 to 100 times faster than conventional Monte Carlo tools that have been used to date; e.g. EGS4, without compromising accuracy and can provide dose calculation in just a few minutes using ordinary personal computers. This package will be commercially developed for conventional treatment planning as well as IMRT by CMS.

Doug Sprague, CMS President and CEO said "CMS has recently released a second version of IMRT software in FOCUS(R) release 3.0 and has been pursuing prototypical work on fast Monte Carlo algorithms for use in radiotherapy with research partners for over four years. The goal of the CMS collaboration with UKT is to complement the foundation work accomplished to date in these two critical areas of radiation treatment planning. CMS is very exited to formalize this research partnership. UKT provides a significant enhancement to the work already in place and will add extra dimensions to our product offerings. The results of this collaboration will truly represent the next generation of radiation therapy planning tools with a significant improvement in patient outcomes."

"UKT has been dedicated to exploring new tracks in radiotherapy optimization and dose computation, which have lead to unique solutions. The difficult challenge of developing IMRT tools for clinical use is to arrive at a solution that will work in the wide range of clinical environments, not just for a research institution. We are confident that we have arrived at that solution with Hyperion representing a large step in the evolution of modern radiotherapy treatment planning. We are very pleased that our efforts have resulted in a cooperative partnership with CMS given their commitment to innovative approaches in radiotherapy. CMS is a highly qualified and dedicated partner for the advancement of research developments benefiting the worldwide community," said Prof. Dr. Fridtjof Nusslin, head of the Medical Physics department at UKT.

Computerized Medical Systems, Inc. is the world's largest supplier of Radiation Therapy Planning systems with over 1,200 systems installed. CMS' flagship product, FOCUS(R), is the leading 3-D RTP system in the US and abroad with over 1,000 systems installed to date. CMS manufactures, markets and supports 3-D Treatment Planning Systems, Focal PC-based applications, as well as DynaScan, a Dosimetry system for beam data collection. Offices are located worldwide with headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri and regional offices in Freiberg, Germany, Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, and Hong Kong, China. CMS is the worldwide market share leader in Radiation Treatment Planning Systems with more 3-D RTP installations than any other competitor. 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.