On June 17, Tübingen University Hospital officially inaugurated its new BSD-2000 3D/MR Image-Guided Hyperthermia System (IGHT), supplied by Pyrexar Medical/Dr. Sennewald Medizintechnik GmbH/ and Philips Healthcare.
Image-Guided Hyperthermia uses live MRI images to verify optimal tumor temperature to ensure optimal radiosensitizing benefits of the therapy. This non-invasive approach allows the operator to move the thermal zone or adjust power output with a touchscreen interface. The steering process avoids patient applicator repositioning or the interruption of treatment, improving workflow and thermal dose.
This state-of-the-art system will be shared by the Clinic for Radiation Oncology and the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology. In this way, it not only serves cancer treatment but will also be used for diagnostic imaging, primarily for pediatric radiology.
The photo above shows those taking part in the celebrations: (left to right, Copyright Universitätsklinikum Tübingen/Janina Fischer) Prof. Dr. Daniel Zips (Director of the University Department of Radiation Oncology), Susanne Schäfer (MTA in radiology), Prof. Dr. Michael Bamberg (Chief Medical Director and Chairman of the Executive Board), Dr. Gerhard Sennewald (CEO), Prof. Dr. Konstantin Nikolaou (Director of the University Department of Radiology and of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology), Prof. Dr. Jürgen Schäfer (Head of Pediatric Radiology), and Thomas Richter of Philips GmbH.
After taking a year off from COVID restrictions, the CME accredited educational program offered by the University of Maryland, School of Thermal Oncology is now open for registration.
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University of Maryland Thermal Oncology School CME course
held at the Maryland Proton Center in Baltimore, MD
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The educational team included (left to right) JW Snider, MD; Paul Stauffer;
Dario Rodrigues, PhD; Jason Molitoris, MD, PhD; Mariana Guerrero,PhD; John Hayes,MD;
and Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, Phd
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Participants from the U.S., Poland, South Korea and key hospitals in the
U.S. attended the 2-day lecture and workshop
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Professor Stauffer, from Thomas Jefferson University, discusses Treatment Planning
and Execution
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Dr. Rodrigues demonstrates temperature probe placement in a phantom on the BSD-2000
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Dr. Guerrero (UMMC) with Mr. Stauffer (Thomas Jefferson) demonstrate the operation
of the BSD-500 Superficial/Interstitial Hyperthermia system.
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Participants discuss the operation of the BSD-2000 Deep Regional Hyperthermia System
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The thermal oncology staff at the University of Maryland use lasers for
reliable, repeatable patient positioning
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Doctors' Biswal and Rodriques discuss operational safety and RF field management
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Using a phantom to simulate temperature management on the BSD-500
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South Korean delegation at the Maryland Proton Center
The last session drew an international crowd, including physicians from South Korea, Poland, and Japan, as well as prominent cancer centers here in the U.S. The feedback we received, and this was a five-star educational program, valuable to any member of a thermal oncology team. Topics covered all aspects of practice management, patient treatment, physics, and workflow. Practice managers shared how adding thermal oncology to their services increased overall service revenue by over 19%. This information is essential for centers that would like to add hyperthermia systems but require cost justification to receive purchase approval.
In 2021, the course will be held October 29th-30th in Baltimore Maryland.
Registration is limited to 24 seats.
Pyrexar Medical continues to support educational outreach from organizations like the University of Maryland, Society of Thermal Medicine, European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology, and similar institutions that strive to move forward hyperthermia research in the treatment of cancer. The CME course outline can be found here.
The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University celebrated the opening of its thermal oncology center located in the Henan province of mainland China. The hospital constructed a custom hyperthermia suite to house the BSD-2000 Deep Regional Hyperthermia system built by Pyrexar Medical. First Affiliated has a long history of hyperthermic clinical research and plans to further pioneer its use, in addition to general clinical use for their cancer patients.
Often referred to as "the largest hospital in the world", First Affiliated offers 7,000 beds. Compare that to the largest medical center in the US, New York-Presbyterian at 2,678 and you get to understand the colossal scale of the facility.
The opening celebration included a presentation ceremony, lectures on hyperthermia in the treatment of cancer, and a tour of the facility, attracting physicians and medical professionals from the area.
What does that mean for the future of hyperthermia in China? Thermal therapy has long been accepted in Asia and is growing steadily. The prestige, influence, and access of a medical facility of this magnitude is expected to result in accelerated demand for Pyrexar system installations throughout China.
A special thanks to the talented team at our distributor Dalian Orientech for their dedication to bringing the best in medical technology to the region.
The link between increased longevity and hyperthermia treatment was considered a landmark study when it published in late 2018 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Recently, our partners at Sennewald Medizintechnik, caught up with renowned expert and cancer study co-author Professor Dr. Lars Lindner of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich to get a deeper understanding of the findings.
After examining over 30 Soft Tissue Sarcoma trials, Prof. Dr. Linder lists the top four significant findings:
- Doxorubicin-based chemotherapy is and remains the standard of care for soft tissue sarcomas.
- The benefit of chemotherapy has also been shown in the adjuvant situation in high-risk patients.
- Neoadjuvant therapy is preferable because it combats potential micrometastasis at the earliest possible time and improves operability.
- Regional hyperthermia improves the effectiveness of chemotherapy and leads to improved patient survival.
The complete interview is available on the Sennewald Medizintechnik April 2021 newsletter.
The 2020 ESHO-Pyrexar Award presentation included the history and merits of Professor Niloy Datta, celebrating his achievements in the field of thermal oncology. What follows the award presentation is nothing less than a Master Class in thermal oncology. Dr. Datta shares highlights of his research and his vision for the pathway to hyperthermia expansion and success.
Along with presenting evidence of the increased value to the patient that hyperthermia brings, Dr. Datta also touches on the financial rationale of adding a thermal oncology program to your hospital.
Below find a summary of recently published works involving hyperthermia by Datta et al.
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Early results and volumetric analysis after spot-scanning proton therapy with concomitant hyperthermia in large inoperable sacral chordomas.
Tran S, Puric E, Walser M, Poel R, Datta NR, Heuberger J, Pica A, Marder D, Lomax N, Bolsi A, Morach P, Bachtiary B, Seddon BM, Schneider R, Bodis S, Weber DC.
Br J Radiol. 2020 Mar;93(1107):20180883. doi: 10.1259/bjr.20180883. Epub 2019 May 14.
PMID: 30943055
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Local hyperthermia combined with radiotherapy and-/or chemotherapy: recent advances and promises for the future.
Datta NR, Ordóñez SG, Gaipl US, Paulides MM, Crezee H, Gellermann J, Marder D, Puric E, Bodis S.
Cancer Treat Rev. 2015 Nov;41(9):742-53. doi: 10.1016/j.ctrv.2015.05.009. Epub 2015 May 27.
PMID: 26051911 Review.
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"HEATPAC" - a phase II randomized study of concurrent thermochemoradiotherapy versus chemoradiotherapy alone in locally advanced pancreatic cancer.
Datta NR, Pestalozzi B, Clavien PA, Siebenhüner A, Puric E, Khan S, Mamot C, Riesterer O, Knuchel J, Reiner CS, Bodis S; members of the HEATPAC Trial Group.
Radiat Oncol. 2017 Nov 21;12(1):183. doi: 10.1186/s13014-017-0923-8.
PMID: 29162142 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.
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A special thanks to Dr. Sennewald Medizintechnik for sponsoring the award and presentation.
Medical news may be dominated by pandemic coverage, but cancer research still moves forward. We did a quick search on clinicaltrials.gov for trials using hyperthermia as an adjunct to radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. The listing below is a summary of studies around the world.
HIPEC studies have not been included in this list. Listing facilities with Pyrexar hyperthermia systems is not a statement that those systems are used in the study, only that they exist at the facilities conducting the study. If you know of a study not included in the list, please let us know, and we would be happy to share it on our website.
Ivy-Lab Inc., established in 2008, specializes in the supply of medical devices in South Korea. The sales group has been very successful in placing the BSD-2000 Deep Regional Hyperthermia system in hospitals all over the country.
According to CEO Michael Cha, "is to make the best cancer care available to everyone. We believe the radiative method of hyperthermia is the most efficient hyperthermia method in fighting cancer as it has been proven many times over. That is why we aim to spread the word of radiative hyperthermia to all South Korean doctors and specialists and create awareness in the country".
Ivy Lab has been extremely successful in the very competitive South Korean market; this position elevation as a master distributor ensures that we will continue to see dynamic growth in the region.
The Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital has advanced its thermal oncology center's capability by adding a superficial hyperthermia treatment room alongside the existing deep regional hyperthermia suite. MWFH, managed by Taipei Medical University, is a 732 beds facility located in Taipei, Taiwan, and the country's first publicly owned and privately operated hospital.
"Out of a broad field of competitors, the cancer treatment team recognized Pyrexar as the manufacturer of the best hyperthermia medical equipment in the world," according to Dennis Lin, CEO of Hualong Biomed. Wan Fang established its Hyperthermia Treatment Center in 2016, installing a BSD-2000 Deep Regional Hyperthermia system. Their team and patients have been looking forward to combining hyperthermia with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy with the new BSD-500 Superficial Hyperthermia system, knowing that its odd ratio can be more than twice, especially for breast cancer and head and neck cancer patients.
In cooperation with Hematology-Oncology, Radiation Oncology, General Surgery, Otorhinolaryngology, and Oral Surgery departments, the Hyperthermia Treatment Center aims to benefit cancer patients, collect more clinical data and experience to promote this integrative cancer therapy. This is an important milestone in cancer treatment.
Special recognition to Ray Lauritzen, VP of CustomerCare at Pyrexar Medical. Ray arrived in Taiwan and was required to immediately enter the two-week quarantine for epidemic prevention before starting installation and training. Ray’s professionalism was formally recognized by the associate dean, professor, physician, nurses, medical physicists, radiation therapists, and case managers of the Cancer Treatment Center.
Image-Guided Thermal Therapy is shown to be highly consistent over various MRI platforms. Currently, there are five image-guided hyperthermia systems treating patients in Europe. A recent quality assurance validation study was published in the International Journal of Hyperthermia comparing heating patterns of the Sigma Eye-MR applicator among different models of MRI systems. See Full Article - "A multi-institution study: comparison of the heating patterns of five different MR-guided deep hyperthermia systems using an anthropomorphic phantom." Curto et al.
Using the five sites in comparison, the study found accuracy and continuity between the systems, no matter which imaging system was used. "These three MR systems from GE, Philips, and Siemens represent a growing family of OEM imaging systems proven compatible with the BSD-2000 3D/MR hyperthermia system." Says Jason Ellsworth, VP Engineering. "We continue to evaluate new imaging systems from various manufacturers as requested for new installations, focusing mainly on the 1.5T MR with a 60-70cm bore."
The BSD-2000 3D/MR Image-Guided Hyperthermia system uses data from MRI taken throughout the hyperthermia treatment to create a pinpoint temperature map. The data, when compared to the previous scan, is used to form a three-dimensional temperature map. "Essentially, every pixel on the screen represents a discrete changing temperature measurement," says Pyrexar CTO Paul Turner. "This results in tens of thousands of temperature data points in every slice taken."
By having a real-time image of the tumor site with a temperature overlay, the operator can ensure that the tumor is within the prescriptive target temperature threshold during the entire treatment. The heat zone's repositioning due to patient discomfort or patient movement can be retargeted with a touch of the screen.
Related Article: Quantitative, Multi-institutional Evaluation of MR Thermometry Accuracy for Deep-Pelvic MR-Hyperthermia Systems Operating in Multi-vendor MR-systems Using a New Anthropomorphic Phantom, by Sergio Curto, et al
Pyrexar Medical was represented at the 83rd China International Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF) in Shanghai, China. The CMEF, established in 1979, has become one of the world’s leading global integrated service platforms for medical device technologies.
While most large events have been moved to virtual, this event has been the largest in-person exposition in the medical field since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Representing our product line in China is Dailan based distributor and long-time hyperthermia advocate, Orientech, Co., Ltd.
