Pyrexar was invited to present its hyperthermia line to the leading oncologists in the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) last week. The meeting was organized by the Saudi Cancer Foundation (SCF) with cooperation from the Al Afandi Medical Group. The SCF was formed to increase cancer awareness and inform the public about the importance of early detection and advancements in cancer treatment.
Even though cancer incidence is lower than the world average in Saudi Arabia, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and lung cancer ranks highest in incidence for the population of 27 million. The country is looking to improve healthcare outcomes and is exploring the benefits of hyperthermia in the treatment of cancer.
Attending via Skype was Mark Falkowski, CEO of Pyrexar Medical. Mr. Falkowski presented Pyrexar's recent achievements in the advancement of radiofrequency delivered hyperthermia. RF phased array hyperthermia is well established in its ability to deliver power both to superficial (surface cancers within 4 cm) and deep regional (any depth in the body), to heat tissue to targeted temperatures of 43˚C. A recent study by the University of Amsterdam, “A comparison of the heating characteristics of capacitive and radiative superficial hyperthermia, (Kok and Crezee, 2017) proved that radiative RF, the method used in Pyrexar Medical's BSD-500, is far superior to systems that use capacitive heating methods (i.e., Oncotherm, Celcius 42).
Also presenting was Dr. Mark Hurwitz of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Dr. Hurwitz is a widely recognized leader in the fields of thermal medicine and genitourinary oncology, and previously served as Director of Regional Program Development for the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center, A long-time clinician, researcher and hyperthermia expert, Dr. Hurwitz presented clinical results and discussed hyperthermia’s role in the treatment of cancer. A special thanks to the Al Afandi Medical group, Pyrexar's representative in the region, as well as Mira Sirotic of Alltranix in the organization of the event.
Pyrexar Medical has completed product registration and regulatory requirements with the KSA and is preparing to place hyperthermia systems in the kingdom.