SEATTLE—May 5, 2011—Calypso Medical Technologies, Inc., a developer of real-time localization technology used for the precise tracking of tumor targets, announced today that Santa Chiara Hospital at the University of Pisa is the first medical center in Italy to offer the Calypso® System to provide accurate, precise, real-time tumor tracking for patients undergoing external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer.
“At the University Hospital of Pisa we are committed to providing patients access to the most advanced medical technologies,” said Professor Carlo Greco, Director of Radiation Therapy at Santa Chiara Hospital. “The Calypso System is the quintessential system for targeted localization and real-time tracking during radical radiotherapy for prostate cancer. It will enable our physicians to more accurately deliver radiation to the tumor while minimizing the risk of any harmful effects on normal tissues. By doing so, we are likely to reduce side effects and preserve quality-of-life factors for our patients. With the aid of the Calypso System, we are about to embark on a hypo-fractionated schedule to significantly reduce the number of treatment sessions, thereby improving patient’s convenience as well.”
“We are pleased that Santa Chiara Hospital, one of Italy’s leading medical centers, has adopted GPS for the Body® technology as a standard of care for prostate cancer patients who elect external beam radiation,” said Vincenzo la Bella, managing director, Europe of Calypso Medical. “This latest installation of the Calypso System represents an important milestone for Calypso Medical in the international arena. We are encouraged by the increasing utilization of the Calypso System across Europe, which validates the significant value our technology provides to patients, physicians and hospitals worldwide.”
The Calypso System, with its GPS for the Body® technology, utilizes miniature implanted Beacon® transponders to provide precise, continuous information on the location of the tumor during external beam radiation therapy. Any movement by the patient, including internal movement of the tumor, may cause the radiation to miss its intended target and hit adjacent healthy tissue. In contrast to other tumor targeting solutions, the Calypso System provides real-time tumor position information, thereby allowing physicians to deliver radiation directly to the tumor while sparing the surrounding healthy organs from exposure. In contrast to other guidance techniques, Calypso’s electromagnetic technology is the only non-ionizing guidance solution to keep the treatment precisely focused on the prostate or post-operative prostatic bed without adding unnecessary radiation.
A clinical study entitled, “Assessing the Impact of Margin Reduction (AIM),” published in the 2010 May issue of Urology, demonstrated that prostate tumor tracking utilizing the Calypso® System during high-dose intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) allowed physicians to deliver a higher dose of radiation with smaller planning treatment volume (PTV) margins, while reducing treatment-related side effects.
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About Nuovo Santa Chiara
The University of Pisa, founded in 1343, is one of the most ancient and prestigious universities in Europe. Its Faculty of Medicine is an important component of the Hospital “Nuovo Santa Chiara,” which is a high specialty and international reference point hospital and one of the largest in Italy and a place of health care and culture. To know the Hospital of Pisa means to come into contact with more than 5,000 health care workers, of whom more of 3,600 are physicians, nurses and midwives, in addition to health technicians, physical therapists, biologists, chemists, pharmacists and physicists. There are about 70 buildings for hospitalized patients and health activities, between two establishments, old Santa Chiara and Cisanello, and more than 130 clinics. It is a referral center for patients of all ages from every region of Italy.
About Calypso Medical Technologies, Inc.
Calypso Medical is a privately held medical device company headquartered in Seattle. Its proprietary tumor localization system is designed for body-wide cancers commonly treated with radiation. Utilizing miniaturized, non-ionizing implanted devices called Beacon® electromagnetic transponders, the Calypso System continuously and accurately tracks the location of cancerous tumors for the improved precision and safe management of radiation for cancer treatment. The real-time position and motion information provided by the Calypso System offers objective reassurance that radiation treatment is delivered precisely to the prescribed target and not to surrounding healthy tissue, thereby improving safety and eliminating unnecessary radiation exposure to patients. The Calypso System was cleared by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for use in radiation therapy for the prostate and post-operative prostatic bed. The company has strategic relationships with Varian Medical Systems, Siemens Healthcare, Elekta Corporation and Philips Medical. Additional information can be found at www.calypsomedical.com.
Jon Siegal/Wendy Mejia
Schwartz Communications
(781) 684-0770
calypsomedical@schwartz-pr.com
David Betz
Calypso Medical
(206) 330-2621
dbetz@calypsomedical.com
