SEATTLE – Feb. 24, 2011 – Calypso Medical Technologies, Inc., a developer of real-time localization technology used for the precise tracking of tumor targets, today announced it has completed installation of the Calypso^® System at the University of Pennsylvania’s Roberts Proton Therapy Center. The system installation, intended for pre-clinical use, is the culmination of a two-year research agreement between the two entities during which time the compatibility of Calypso’s real-time tracking technology, including implantable Beacon^® transponders, was evaluated within the proton environment. As with conventional radiation therapy, which uses X-rays or photons, the effectiveness of proton therapy is currently hampered by the inability to precisely track the tumor target during radiation delivery, which endangers surrounding healthy tissue and can lead to debilitating side effects.

“Our collaboration with Calypso Medical will enable us to move proton therapy forward by allowing us to precisely track the location of the tumor target, in real-time as therapy is being delivered,” said Dr. James Metz, associate professor and vice chair, clinical division, department of radiation oncology at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. “Proton therapy shows great promise of allowing targeted radiation to be delivered, especially to tumors that are close to critical structures such as the spinal cord. We are hopeful that combining the two technologies will allow us to more effectively treat cancers associated with a high degree of organ motion, such as lung and pancreatic cancer.”

In addition to tracking the proton beam delivery, the Calypso System may also help proton facilities realize significant efficiency gains. In existing proton facilities, as the proton beam is formed it is shared among different treatment rooms, unlike conventional x-ray beams that are formed by individual linear accelerators placed in each treatment room. As such, delays in properly aligning the patient in one proton treatment room now affects the radiation delivery and patient scheduling in all treatment rooms. As part of Calypso’s proton environment research, patient setup using the Calypso System was compared to patient setup without Calypso. Data collected indicated that Calypso reduced patient setup time by 70 to 80 percent. The University of Pennsylvania’s goal when operating at full capacity is to treat 200 patients per day, so optimizing efficiency is of paramount importance.

The Calypso System, with its GPS for the Body^® technology, utilizes implanted Beacon transponders to provide precise, continuous information on the location of the tumor during external beam radiation therapy. The real-time position information provided by the Calypso System allows physicians to deliver maximum radiation directly to the tumor while sparing the surrounding healthy tissues and 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 target without adding unnecessary radiation. The Calypso System is the only commercially available real-time tracking system for radiation therapy shown to improve patient outcomes for prostate cancer. 

#  #  #

Proton Release FINAL 02.24.11.pdf