New data demonstrate benefits of Accuray software solutions

Accuray Inc. has announced that studies validating the benefits of CyberKnife^® and Radixact^® System software innovations were shared by prominent physicists at the recent 61^st annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). These product enhancements are designed to make it faster and easier for clinicians to deliver precise radiation treatments to more patients each day.

"Accuray is dedicated to providing clinicians with solutions that enable them to achieve their clinical goals for patients at every stage of their cancer treatment journey," said Fabienne Hirigoyenberry-Lanson, Ph.D., vice president of global medical and scientific affairs at Accuray. "The clinical results shared at this year's AAPM meeting showcase the breadth of innovation achieved in partnership with our customers, and the benefits that Accuray products can deliver to clinicians and their patients, now and into the future."

Research highlights include:

CyberKnife VOLO™ Optimizer
 significantly reduces treatment planning and estimated treatment delivery times

• Studies demonstrate benefits of the CyberKnife VOLO Optimizer across multiple tumor types.
• A planning comparison study showed that, for prostate SBRT patients previously treated with an InCise™ Multileaf Collimator (MLC), the VOLO Optimizer allowed clinicians to develop optimal plans eight times faster (62 minutes versus 8 hours), while simultaneously reducing average estimated treatment delivery time by 31 percent. Researchers at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, conducted the study.
• A team of researchers at Stanford University compared plans generated with the CyberKnife VOLO Optimizer and Sequential Optimizer in patients with tumors classified as simple brain, complex brain or complex spine. All estimated treatment delivery times were reduced using VOLO, with time savings ranging from 14 percent (for simple brain cases using the Iris collimator) to 50 percent (for complex brain cases using the InCise MLC).

Synchrony^® for the Radixact System automates real-time motion tracking and correction while targets move 

• University of Wisconsin – Madison and Accuray Incorporated researchers evaluated the potential of the motion synchronization technology developed for the Radixact System to track and correct for tumor motion during delivery. Patient plans were delivered to a phantom and the dose delivered was compared to the planning dose. Results for the sample plan presented showed that the motion synchronization technology was able to effectively track and correct for the phantom motion.

CTrue™ IR Improves image quality

• The clinical impact of using CTrue IR (Iterative Reconstruction) MVCT images for image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) was analyzed by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin. MVCT images acquired on the Radixact System were reconstructed with IR and standard algorithms. CTrue IR improved soft-tissue contrast and substantially reduced image noise, enhancing image quality. Investigators also found that patient alignment during IGRT was easier to achieve and more accurate with CTrue IR MVCT than with standard MVCT.

Radixact System PreciseART^® makes adaptive re-planning easier

• Medical College of Wisconsin researchers investigated the rate of offline adaptive re-planning in their clinic with and without the use of technology enabling them to perform automated dose calculation and trending. The re-planning rate for patients enrolled in the Radixact System PreciseART^® Option, which automatically calculates dose, trends daily dose changes, and triggers adaptive re-planning based on clinician-established criteria, was compared to the estimated re-planning rate for patients treated on VMAT and other systems without similar automated capabilities. Automated tools available with PreciseART^® increased the frequency of offline adaptive re-planning over the course of the radiation therapy, indicating it better identified interfraction changes for which re-planning was clinically beneficial.