MADISON, WI--(Marketwire - November 24, 2009) - TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TOMO) announced today that a research study published in the November 11, 2009 International Journal of Radiation Oncology * Biology * Physics -- commonly known as the Red Journal -- indicated that TomoTherapy(SM) treatment times could be reduced by up to 66 percent using advanced radiation delivery techniques. In addition, these techniques were able to improve plan quality by further minimizing the amount of radiation normal tissue received.
The study, entitled "Dynamic Jaws and Dynamic Couch in Helical TomoTherapy," was led by Dr. Florian Sterzing of the Department of Radiation Oncology at University Clinic Heidelberg to explore the benefits of the Advanced TomoTherapy Delivery Technique. This delivery technique would rely on a dynamic collimator that can automatically adjust the size of the radiation beam to optimize dosage at the target and spare surrounding healthy tissue. Another key component would be a patient couch that can be designed to accelerate treatment time by moving faster between target tumors or in those areas that do not require high doses of radiation. The University Clinic Heidelberg study concluded that with the combination of these two research advancements, they were able to develop treatment plans that indicated significantly shortened treatment times and improved quality of the treatment plan.
"Our experience treating patients with TomoTherapy led us to believe that the techniques we explored in our research could result in more accurate and faster treatments," said Dr. Sterzing. "While we limited our study to nasopharyngeal cancer applications, we believe that these techniques also would have great value in treating cancers throughout the body, particularly cancers of the prostate and those involving multiple metastases."
New TomoHD™ Treatment System Equipped to Accommodate Advanced
Delivery Technique
"At the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology
(ASTRO) earlier this month, we debuted the TomoHD treatment system and
demonstrated how the Advanced TomoTherapy Delivery Technique could be used
in conjunction with this new treatment system," said Fred Robertson, M.D.,
TomoTherapy's president and CEO. "We believe the combination of the
multipurpose platform along with the Advanced Delivery Technique being
explored at University Clinic Heidelberg will allow TomoTherapy to continue
to advance patient care. These innovations will improve upon our unique
form of beam delivery, already widely considered to be the gold standard."
The TomoHD treatment system will be commercially available in the second half of 2010 and has been designed to support the Advanced TomoTherapy Delivery Technique. The Advanced TomoTherapy Delivery Technique is currently a work-in-progress and is not available for sale.
University Clinic Heidelberg is a research partner of TomoTherapy Incorporated. Representatives of TomoTherapy are co-authors on the study noted above.
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.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this release regarding future products or product
capabilities, events, expectations and other similar matters, including but
not limited to statements using the terms "expected to", "should", "could",
"believe(s)", "suggests" or "indicates" constitute forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements contained in this press
release are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those anticipated, including but not
limited to factors such as our ability to gain customer acceptance, ability
to complete development in a timely manner, ability to protect intellectual
property, risks of interruption due to events beyond the company's control,
and the other risks listed from time to time in TomoTherapy's filings with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which by this reference are
incorporated herein. These forward-looking statements represent
TomoTherapy's judgments as of the date of this press release. TomoTherapy
assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements in
this release because of new information, future events or otherwise.
©2009 TomoTherapy Incorporated. All rights reserved. The following marks
as used herein in italicized or stylized text are among trademarks, service
marks or registered trademarks of TomoTherapy Incorporated in the United
States and other countries: TomoTherapy, Tomo, TomoDirect, TomoHelical,
TomoHD, TomoMobile, TQA, Hi·Art, and the TomoTherapy logo.
Investor Contact:
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