Dear brachytherapy colleagues,
A warm welcome to the readers of our first IC brachytherapy newsletter!
The laws of physics!
Brachytherapy delivers precise & programmable, high tumor dose while giving minimal exposure to surrounding healthy tissue! No other form of radiotherapy comes even close!
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What’s new?
Today’s brachytherapy has more potential than ever. An enormous range of body sites can be efficiently treated with practical and cost effective brachytherapy and even more so with the high potential low energy isotopes now in development. From 2003 onwards we have focused on providing you with next generation brachytherapy technology. As you may be aware, our team worked in brachytherapy development from 1975 onwards. In our new Isodose Control setting we realized 100+ breakthrough safety and efficiency improvements with the introduction of the Flexitron. Remember, it is the only new brachytherapy system designed and licensed this century! Clinics all over the world are embracing our innovations and more than 50 clinics have gone clinical (or are in the process of) in all continents. Looking forward to 2009 we have a range of exciting new developments coming your way. I look forward to discussing and sharing innovative ideas with you and learn from your clinical experience so that we can boost brachytherapy together.
The technique of choice for the best achievable clinical result!
Eric van ’t Hooft, chairman
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Highlights
50 Flexitrons on six continents
More than 25 Flexitrons clinical
Many hundreds of patients treated
Sales doubled in 2008
No down time for Flexitron!
USA & Canada licensed Flexitron
Flexitron & Brachyvision* connect
7 x Flexitron in the Netherlands
Flexitron PDR developed
Flexiplan V2.5 released
Series of new patents filed
IC awarded by ASTRO
5 best of its kind new applicators released
First patient treated in North America
* Brachyvision is a Varian product
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Flexiplan V2.5
The Flexiplan 2.5 brachytherapy planning system is official! This new release revolutionizes planning in three areas: Intelligent imaging manipulation, superfast contouring and advanced optimization and calculations. In just a few years our Flexiplan became the fastest, safest and smartest treatment planning system in the world with an exceptional intuitive user interface.
High quality imaging helps to saves lives. That is why imaging enhancement is crucial. Flexiplan allows easy fusion of different datasets, and can digitally reconstruct radiographs (calculated X-Ray films) from CT images to give professionals complete patient information in one view. Secondly, contouring is faster and easier than ever before. True 3D contouring on reconstructed or oblique images is easy. Automatic contouring (Hounsfield) also helps to save valuable procedure time. But most stunning perhaps is how complex structures such as the trachea (multiple closed contours) in one plane can now be identified as a single structure. This means volumes of a complex structure can now be calculated in seconds. Thirdly, Flexiplan contains new protocols, such as Mammosite, and improved optimization and calculation
methods. What’s more and key for safety: Dose volumes are now automatically calculated in absolute values, such as cm3. For more information on Flexiplan 2.5 please do not hesitate to contact us.
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Antwerp breast implants three times faster!
Middelheim Antwerp presented a Poster during ESTRO offering their breast cancer patients a brachytherapy boost. Until recently their procedure took 2.5 hours. After brainstorming with Isodose Control about the development of a next-generation breast template system, the center improved the efficiency of the procedure and reduced the total procedure time to less than 50 minutes from start to finish!
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Mumbai
The world was shocked and horrified by the terrorist attacks on Mumbai this December during the National RT & Physics meeting. Many participants were severely affected and we lost some dear colleagues in these attacks. To those who have lost loved ones, colleagues or friends, and those who suffer from injury or trauma, please let us express our deepest sympathies and hope that useless and violent terrorist attacks will one day belong to the past.
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Prestigious Hôpital Charles LeMoyne chooses Flexitron
Hôpital Charles LeMoyne in Saint-Hubert, Quebec has ordered the complete Flexitron brachytherapy system for their new and highly modern radiotherapy department still under construction.
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We hope our newsletters inform you and your colleagues to collect new ideas for tomorrow’s radiotherapy department and consequently help as many patients as possible with smarter and more effective Brachytherapy.
If you have a contribution you believe fits this format, please send us the information and we will publish it.
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