New Elekta iViewDose Software Designed to Provide an Essential Safety Check for Radiation Therapy

CRAWLEY, England, March 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The use of highly-focused, rapid delivery techniques such as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated radiation therapy (VMAT) has increased the need for high accuracy in dose delivery to patients, particularly given the higher therapeutic doses used in stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). iViewDose Elekta's new EPID-based in vivo dosimetry solution, offers an efficient way to provide this assurance during treatment. The software recently received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration and CE Mark.

A joint development of Elekta and The Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI-AVL, Amsterdam), iViewDose overcomes previous limitations in quality assurance. Technology Foundation STW, a public granting body in the Netherlands, also financed some of the academic work that went into the development of iViewDose. The new software provides an effective, easy to use solution for the detection of errors in radiotherapy. iViewDose offers the potential to detect more errors than alternative pretreatment verification methods. Studies have demonstrated that this method provides an important safety check for advanced treatments such as IMRT and VMAT.^[1]-[3]

Validated in clinical practice 

NKI-AVL staff have used the advanced algorithms of iViewDose in thousands of treatments. Recent studies of their experience show that the method is a fast and efficient dose verification technique and - compared with pre-treatment verification measurements of IMRT and VMAT - it provides more useful information and is less time-consuming.^[2-3]

"iViewDose can detect several errors that can't be detected with pre-treatment checks, such as phantoms in combination with an ionization chamber or diode arrays," says Igor Olaciregui-Ruiz, product developer at NKI-AVL. "These error sources include variations in patient anatomy or patient position and the effect of immobilization devices on dose calculation and delivery among other types of errors."

"With the information of the iViewDose verification checks, deviations were detected that led us to take clinical actions in 1 in 400 treatments. The strength of iViewDose is demonstrated by the fact that in 60% of these cases no action would have been taken with pre-treatment QA only," says Anton Mans, medical physicist, NKI-AVL.

"A vital part of the clinical workflow, iViewDose in vivo dosimetry will give clinicians added confidence," says Todd Powell, Executive Vice President, Comprehensive Oncology Solutions. "As dose regimes evolve to include increasingly higher therapeutic doses delivered to smaller and more critically located targets, iViewDose will become an essential component of curative radiation therapy."

To learn more, visit http://www.elekta.com/iViewDose.

1. Wendling M, McDermott LN, Mans A,  et al (2009) A simple backprojection algorithm for 3D in-vivo EPID dosimetry of IMRT treatments. Med. Phys. 36: 3310-3321.
2. A. Mans, M. Wendling, et al. "Catching errors with in vivo EPID dosimetry" Med. Phys. 37 (2010) p2638  http://dx.doi.org/10.1118/1.3397807  
3. Mijnheer BJ, Gonzáles P, Olaciregui-Ruiz I et al. Overview of 3-year experience with large-scale electronic portal imaging device-based 3-dimensional transit dosimetry. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2015 Nov-Dec;5(6):e679-87. doi: 10.1016/j.prro.2015.07.001. Epub 2015 Jul 9.

About Elekta 

Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company develops sophisticated, state-of-the-art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy, radiosurgery and brachytherapy, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care. Stretching the boundaries of science and technology, providing intelligent and resource-efficient solutions that offer confidence to both health care providers and patients, Elekta aims to improve, prolong and even save patient lives.

Today, Elekta solutions in oncology and neurosurgery are used in over 6,000 hospitals worldwide. Elekta employs around 3,800 employees globally. The corporate headquarters is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company is listed on NASDAQ Stockholm. Website: http://www.elekta.com.

About the Netherlands Cancer Institute  

The Netherlands Cancer Institute was established on October 10, 1913.  Today, the Netherlands Cancer Institute accommodates approximately 650 scientists and scientific support personnel. The Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital has 185 medical specialists, 220 beds, an out-patient clinic that receives 27,000 patients each year, 12 operating theaters and 11 radiotherapy units. It is the only dedicated cancer center in The Netherlands and maintains an important role as a national and international center of scientific and clinical expertise, development and training. For more information, please visit http://www.nki.nl.

For further information, please contact:
Gert van Santen, Group Vice President Corporate Communications, Elekta AB
Tel: +31-653-561-242, e-mail: [email protected]
Time zone: CET: Central European Time

Raven Canzeri, Global Public Relations Manager, Elekta
Tel: +1-770-670-2524, e-mail: [email protected]
Time zone: ET: Eastern Time

SOURCE Elekta