The Beamlet

3rd Annual IG/IMRT TomoTherapy^® Symposium
April 18-19, 2007 in Tampa, Florida

Registration is now open for this event that will feature some of the world’s pre-eminent experts on helical TomoTherapy^® treatments. Jointly sponsored by the University of South Florida College of Medicine and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, this meeting will be held just prior to the ASTRO IGRT Symposium.

See invited speakers, complete agenda, and accreditation details.

Register now
(Deadline is April 13, 2007)

University Clinic Hamburg TomoTherapy^® Hi·Art^®
Opening Ceremony and Symposium

On February 14th, the University Clinic Hamburg celebrated the official opening of its TomoTherapy Hi·Art treatment system. The event included a symposium, attended by more than 100 radiation oncologists, physicists and medical doctors, and other interested people from the city of Hamburg and northern Germany.

In his welcome address, Prof. Dr. Jörg Debatin, director of the University Clinic Hamburg, expressed the clinic’s commitment to high technology: “The new TomoTherapy system is an important milestone to strengthen our position as one of the leading medical centres in northern Germany.”

Dr. Andreas Krüll, director of radiation oncology for the clinic, presented the advantages of TomoTherapy technology over conventional linacs, focusing on cases that would have been difficult or impossible to treat using traditional technology.

Prof. Rock Mackie, TomoTherapy Inc. co-founder and chairman of the board, contributed an overview of the TomoTherapy technology, and touched on plans for further enhancing its capabilities.

A variety of cases showing TomoTherapy treatment options were also presented.

Dr. Florian Sterzing from the University Clinic Heidelberg, the first center in Germany to install a Hi·Art treatment system. He stated that the clinic has treated more than 100 patients since installation and shared his excitement about the performance and stability of the system. Dr. Rudolf Schwarz, also from the University Clinic Heidelberg, echoed that sentiment in a presentation of treatment strategies and firsthand experiences using the system. He focused specifically on the treatment of prostate cancer, where the Hi·Art treatment system’s daily CTrue™ image guidance option offers major advantages for patients.

Contouring of Anatomy and Tumors

On March 4, a symposium on "Contouring of Anatomy and Tumors" took place in Baltimore, MD. Co-sponsored by St. Agnes Medical Center and held in conjunction with the 6th Annual Mid-Atlantic Oncology Update, the event addressed proven planning and contouring approaches for “head-to-toe” tumor sites.

Richard Hudes, MD, is Chief of the Division of Radiation Oncology at St. Agnes Cancer Center and one of the organizers of the event.“The most difficult part of transitioning to IMRT for physicians is deciding what we need to target and spare,” he notes “especially with helical TomoTherapy since the isodose follows the contours so closely.”

The conference brought together experts from across the US and Europe to speak on the contouring portion of planning and the associated anatomy (download speaker list), and elicited a tremendous response from the attendees, who found the presentations “excellent” and “very educational.”

“The question and answer sessions were dynamic and the participant surveys were uniformly positive,” says Dr. Hudes. “This conference was a superb event and a model for the rest of the radiation oncology field.”