RAD Technology Medical Systems announces new patented technology to assist Cancer Patients and Cancer Facilities alike
AVENTURA, Fla., June 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- In the fight against cancer, the latest technology is essential for ensuring the best outcomes. The challenge for many cancer centers and their patients is the gap in services that comes with the process of upgrading sophisticated radiotherapy equipment. Replacing a linear accelerator often takes as much as 3 to 5 months, including remodeling, testing, commissioning and training.
Some larger cancer care providers may have the ability to transfer patients from one piece of equipment to another, avoiding this disruption in services. Many, however, do not have alternate means or extra capacity to provide these lifesaving therapies during this transitional period.
The Temporary Radiotherapy Vault, or TRV, invented by RAD Technology Medical Systems, has conquered that challenge with a new patented solution.
"The TRV is a temporary solution that duplicates the services of a cancer center with both facilities and equipment that are erected and operational in as little as five days," according to RAD President John Lefkus. "Our company simply rents the TRV, placing it in their parking lot or a nearby open area for the period of time required to upgrade the existing equipment. Once the new equipment is installed and ready to deliver state of the art cancer therapy treatments, we remove the temporary facility and relocate it to the next customer's site."
While it sounds simple, the challenge is formidable. The typical linear accelerator is surrounded by two million pounds of mass to safely shield the public and staff from the high energy radiation. And no one has ever transported a pre-commissioned and pre-cabled machine from site to site.
So how does RAD achieve all this in mere days?
"We have built the technology relying in part on other radiotherapy facility patents previously developed by RAD," Lefkus responds. "But the TRV takes a leap forward by offering a pre-installed and pre-commissioned accelerator in a transportable building package complete with clinical functions and utilizing a specialized foundation approach."
The patent issued May 12th by the United States Patent Office is for a "Relocatable Radiation Vault and Methods of Assembly and Use" which broadly covers any radiotherapy facility solution that would be in place for a year or less. Under development and testing for nearly five years, the resulting RAD TRV solution and performance has been astonishing.
Most cancer centers would be pleased to design, build and install equipment in a facility over the course of a single year, yet RAD has transported and installed the same TRV for use by three clients in three different cities during the same calendar year. That string of installations started at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene NH where Paul Pezone, Vice President of Clinical & Support Services, stated during his use of the service, "Every morning I park next to the TRV site and smile. It's a nice reminder of one of the best projects I've worked on and one that I've learned from." He further elaborates, "All of RAD's efforts exceeded our expectations."
Cheshire's cancer program, affiliated with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, is vital to the region. The displacement of patient services along with idle staff was the historical norm prior to RAD's development of the TRV.
"The TRV was a bridge to get us to the next level of technology," stated John Engstrom, Chief Radiation Therapist at Olympic Medical Center in Sequim WA. Located in the remote Puget Sound region, patients would have traveled for hours (each way) to find similar services which normally require daily therapy for six weeks. The toll this would have placed on patients already faced with combating cancer was untenable.
Lefkus provides an analogy of the paradox facing leading cancer centers and their desire to offer the most advanced services. "Imagine if you had to be without your smart phone for four months to be able to upgrade to the next generation of cellular technology," he suggests. "You would be challenged with determining at what stage in technology development you bite the bullet and suffer. But most technology is incremental with no clear tipping point and the decision to not move forward denies patients and clinicians the advantages of the best the industry has to offer; technology which is currently available to others in their fight against cancer."
The new RAD patented solution is the antidote to the upgrading paralysis, allowing advancement without interruption. The TRV is a complete package and does not even require utilities to function. The facility has both fresh water and sanitary holding tanks which eliminates the need for plumbing lines during its brief deployment. The onboard chiller and power conditioner satisfies the demands of the accelerator and the entire TRV can be run from a generator eliminating any need for electrical service.
As RAD continues to implement this "New Normal" in radiotherapy equipment upgrades, cancer centers which were previously paralyzed by the lack of an interim solution will now be free to plan their advancements to the next generation of radiotherapy devices as the technology develops, rather than skipping whole generations of advancement as is now too often the case. As stated by Kenneth Wright, RAD Technology's Director of TRV Services, "The simple truth is that cancer centers should not be required to stop providing radiotherapy services to the community in order to improve those services to the community."
About RAD Technology Medical Systems LLC
RAD Technology Medical Systems provides revolutionary modular radiotherapy vaults and cancer care clinics that can be used as temporary, interim, or permanent facilities. These patented turnkey solutions are factory-fabricated, eliminating the need for lengthy on-site construction projects, and giving patients access to new treatment options in a matter of weeks or months instead of years. For more information, please visit http://radtechnology.com/
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SOURCE RAD Technology Medical Systems LLC
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