TomoTherapy Produces 200th Hi·Art® Treatment System
Leading Italian Hospital to Install Milestone Unit and Expand Radiation Therapy Offerings
MADISON, Wis. – Feb. 6, 2008 – TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TOMO) today announced that it has completed production of its 200th TomoTherapy® Hi·Art® treatment system. The unit will be shipped to the Santa Maria Nuova (SMN) hospital in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The hospital, which became Italy’s first to use intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in 2001, cited innovative system design, higher quality patient treatments and expanded clinical capabilities as reasons for its Hi·Art purchase decision.
“The purchase of a TomoTherapy Hi·Art radiation therapy system is a major investment that demonstrates the Santa Maria Nuova hospital’s leadership in the field of high technologies applied to patient care,” said Ivan Trenti, general director of the SMN hospital.
Iva Manghi, MD, health managing director of the SMN hospital, added: “With the introduction of the most innovative technologies in the field of oncology, we continue a rapid transformation of our hospital, where applied clinical research is becoming increasingly necessary and crucial.”
“We have a great deal of experience using IMRT,” said Luciano Armaroli, MD, medical director of the radiotherapy department at the SMN hospital. “The Hi·Art treatment system will let us apply this experience in new ways, with real benefits for our patients.”
Marta Paiusco, medical physicist for the hospital, added: “With TomoTherapy, we can significantly enhance our IMRT deliveries. We gain daily, CT-based image guidance to ensure the accuracy of treatments and a multi-rotational, helical IMRT delivery pattern to achieve superior dose distributions and normal tissue sparing.”
“TomoTherapy, by design, allows us to explore new opportunities such as simultaneous treatment of multiple metastases, adaptive radiation therapy and hypofractionated treatment regimens,” said Cinzia Iotti, MD, radiation oncologist responsible for the intensity-modulated radiation therapy at the SMN hospital.
Adaptive radiation therapy (ART) involves changing a treatment plan between treatment sessions based on quantitative feedback gathered from efficient daily CT imaging, Hypofractionation involves the delivery of higher doses of radiation in fewer fractions than are used in conventional radiation therapy. The TomoTherapy Hi·Art treatment system was developed from the ground up to facilitate these kinds of advanced radiation therapy practices, and to facilitate workflow efficiencies with no compromise in treatment quality.
“The use of this new technology will allow the Santa Maria Nuova hospital to improve beyond its current offering of IMRT and intensity-modulated arc therapy (IMAT) techniques,” said Mauro Iori, medical physicist at the SMN hospital.
“We are pleased to announce the production of the 200th Hi·Art treatment system, and to partner with yet another forward-looking hospital, Santa Maria Nuova hospital of Reggio Emilia. This is a significant milestone for TomoTherapy and indicative of marketplace acceptance of our technology,” said Fred Robertson, CEO of TomoTherapy. “Demand for the Hi·Art system continues to grow, and we are not experiencing the broader credit market and financing issues that are impacting some of our peers.”
About TomoTherapy Incorporated
TomoTherapy Incorporated develops, markets and sells advanced radiation therapy solutions that can be used to treat a wide variety of cancers, from the most common to the most complex. The ring gantry-based TomoTherapy® platform combines integrated CT imaging with conformal radiation therapy to deliver sophisticated radiation treatments with speed and precision while reducing radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. TomoTherapy’s suite of solutions include its flagship Hi·Art® treatment system, which has been used to deliver more than three million CT-guided, helical intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment fractions; the TomoHD™ treatment system, designed to enable cancer centers to treat a broader patient population with a single device; and the TomoMobile™ relocatable radiation therapy solution, designed to improve access and availability of state-of-the-art cancer care. TomoTherapy’s stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol TOMO. To learn more about TomoTherapy, please visit TomoTherapy.com.
6 Feb 2008
| Investor Contact: Thomas E. Powell Chief Financial Officer 608.824.2800 tpowell@tomotherapy.com |
Media Contact: Kevin O’Malley Manager Corporate Communications 608.824.2800 komalley@tomotherapy.com |
