Enables hypofractionated radiotherapy for prostate cancer
Radiotherapy is all about administrate the right dose to the tumor while avoiding to damage the surrounding healthy tissue.
Prostate motion is unpredictable and random in time, directions, and lengths. The Raypilot system is designed to track prostate motion in real time, even during the treatment. The position is updated 30 times per second, like a GPS, to make sure to always hit the target with radiation. Knowing the position of the target in real time can enhance the treatment with a total higher radiation dose to the tumor and less dose to the healthy and sensitive surrounding tissue. This may result in less risk of undesired side-effects, higher cure rate and significantly fewer visits to the hospital for treatment. The system is in clinical use on hypofractionated/SBRT treatments where the patient only undergo down to 4 days of treatment instead of conventional up to 40 treatments.
The benefit of using Raypilot during radiotherapy is that it enables a pin-pointed targeted treatment on the diseased prostate tissue to spare the healthy tissues. This can be achieved as Raypilot tracks the prostate movement in real time in 3 dimensions (3D), securing that the dose is delivered according to the plan to prevent mistreatments to make sure to hit the tumor and not the healthy tissue. It is a short and simple treatment procedure that enables hypofractionated radiotherapy, with shorter and more effective treatment, which improves the quality of life for the patients.
There is a daily variation in the position of the rectum, which means that the prostate position is not stable over time. Small movements may occur which must be taken into consideration. These movements can be approximately up to 15 millimetres between two treatments and up to 10 millimetres on the same occasion. Thus, normally an error margin is added to the targeted dose to guarantee that the beam covers the whole tumour area.
Micropos has a unique solution that solves this problem. A temporary inserted GPS-tracker called Raypilot HypoCath shows the tiniest movements of the prostate in real time. This enables treatment to be fully adapted according to the plan that can be optimized to deliver high dose to the prostate with the lowest possible dose to healthy tissue.
Raypilot HypoCath placement is fast and simple, according to the standard of care procedure for ordinary urinary catheters. During each treatment, the transmitter is sending signals 30 times/second giving the exact position of the prostate in 3D (three dimensions).
As Raypilot keeps track of tumour movements the safety margins may be reduced with 70% approximately. This means that the lowest dose to healthy tissue is guaranteed. This is called Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT). Another advantage is that the fractions may be boosted and delivered in a shorter time frame, called hypofractionated radiotherapy. Shorter and more effective treatment time improves the quality of life for the patients at the same time as it saves time and cost for the hospital. Really a win-win situation.
Enclosed are a few explanations for laymen, and not for medically trained staff, of the most common terms used in radiation therapy. We hope this will improve your understanding of the treatment and that it can enhance your communication with your physician.
