CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — A prostate cancer patient has become the first person in the world to be treated using the latest version of Varian’s Vitesse™ real time planning solution for planning and performing advanced high-dose-rate (HDR), ultrasound-guided brachytherapy treatments. The treatment took place at the Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“Our team was very impressed overall with this treatment planning system,” says Dr. Michael Haake , chief, division of Radiation Oncology at Carolinas Medical Center, Levine Cancer Institute. “The total anesthesia time for the patient was just three hours, which is short for this type of treatment. He was discharged about two and half hours after he woke up.”
HDR brachytherapy involves delivering radiotherapy from inside the body by temporarily placing a tiny radioactive source directly into the tumor or other targeted area. Using a robotic device called an afterloader, clinicians place the radioactive source into positions through needles that have been inserted into the area being treated. The source is then moved within the needles under computer control to create the specified dose distribution within the patient’s anatomy.
Using the latest version of Vitesse, HDR brachytherapy treatment plans can be created in a real-time environment, using ultrasound images generated in the operating room rather than CT scans generated post-operatively elsewhere. This avoids the need to move the patient to a CT scanner for imaging after the needles have been put in place. The process can now be completed entirely within the Vitesse program, from capturing the ultrasound image to finalizing an approved treatment plan.