Mevion Medical Systems, the leader in compact proton therapy, is showcasing its pencil beam scanning Hyperscan with Adaptive Aperture at the 2016 ASTRO Annual Meeting in Boston. The advanced and unique proton micro-multileaf collimator (mMLC) technology is integrated into the Mevion S250i with Hyperscan, making pencil beam scanning sharper and faster and delivering robust intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT).

Hyperscan with Adaptive Aperture delivers a pencil beam that is up to 50x faster and 3x sharper than conventional systems used for IMPT, and can scan a typical lung tumor in less than two seconds. The technology includes a low-profile mMLC system designed specifically for pencil beam scanning that is capable of delivering the sharpest penumbra physically achievable with protons without the need for manual apertures and adjustments. Its novel and unique layer-by-layer specific beam collimation and blocking achieves leading 1-3 mm collimated spot sizes, for all energies, at any depth.

“In the same way Mevion changed the industry when we invented compact proton therapy, we’re defining Adaptive IMPT with the breakthrough development of the adaptive aperture,” said Joseph K. Jachinowski, the president and CEO of Mevion Medical Systems. “Hyperscan with Adaptive Aperture completely eliminates the need for manual apertures and manual adjustments. This allows for sharper penumbra, faster volumetric scanning and robust clinical treatments to be safely delivered.”

“Hyperscan with Adaptive Aperture has been precisely engineered to deliver the sharpest penumbra achievable by protons, thus minimizing dose uncertainty at the target edges and unnecessary dose to surrounding healthy tissue,” said James Cooley, senior accelerator engineer at Mevion who led the development of the technology. “With a very low profile, the adaptive aperture is ideal for treating pediatric tumors or shallow brain tumors where small spot sizes have been difficult to achieve by conventional systems.”

Mevion Expands Leadership Team with Key Hires

Mevion is also announcing the growth of its leadership team as part of its mission to expand patient access to proton therapy around the world. The leadership expansion includes the hiring of three industry experts and two internal moves:

• Yoel Bakas, vice president of sales, Americas, joins Mevion from Varian Medical Systems, where he oversaw strategic account development and has focused on medical devices sales for the past 17 years.
• Scott Soehl, vice president of international sales, joins Mevion with more than 35 years of radiation oncology experience, having previously worked at Elekta and IMPAC Medical Systems.
• Curt Kienast, vice president of global services, is promoted from within Mevion where he previously served as senior director of product development. Curt has more than 15 years of experience in health care quality and services.
• Chris Dodge, field vice president, The Americas; business development and customer financing, joins Mevion with 30 years of medical device sales and marketing experience, having previously worked at Varian Medical Systems for the past 15 years.
• George Rugg, vice president of business development, is appointed from his previous position as Mevion’s vice president of global services. George’s career spans 30 years of working in the oncology field.

“The growth of our leadership team will continue support our mission to make proton therapy a clinical reality for cancer centers of all sizes,” said Jachinowski. “We look forward to leveraging the team’s extensive industry knowledge and experience as we partner with more and more customers and help cancer centers succeed throughout the entire proton therapy system lifecycle.”

Hyperscan has not been cleared by the USFDA for clinical use.

About Mevion Medical Systems

Mevion Medical Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of proton therapy systems for use in radiation treatment for cancer patients. Mevion is based in Littleton, Massachusetts, with international offices in the Netherlands, Japan and China. For more information, please visit www.mevion.com.

About the Mevion S250 Series

The Mevion S250 Series is elegantly designed to deliver high-powered, efficient proton therapy treatments. Built upon the world’s only gantry-mounted proton accelerator and benefiting from Mevion’s patented direct beam technology, the Mevion S250 Series delivers on the therapeutic promise of proton therapy while enhancing beam quality, stability and uptime. The result is reduced system complexity, higher reliability and throughput, and lower capital and operating costs—making the Mevion S250 Series a compelling, financially viable solution for all cancer centers. The Mevion S250 Series includes:

• Mevion S250, offering highly stable, next-generation volumetric delivery capabilities
• Mevion S250i with Hyperscan and Adaptive Aperture, overcoming pencil beam scanning uncertainties by delivering robust IMPT treatment at hyper-speed
• Mevion S250mx, making proton therapy fully scalable, with two, three and four room designs that are inherently redundant and support 100 percent facility uptime

(Source: Business Wire)