Swedish Cancer Institute Uses GPS to Assist with Precision-Guided Prostate Cancer Treatments

Swedish Cancer Institute of Seattle, Washington on January 30th announced it is the first cancer-care program in the world to provide prostate cancer patients commercial access to the Calypso(R) 4D Localization System for precision-guided radiation therapy delivery to the prostate with continuous, objective, organ-motion tracking accuracy.

Radiation therapy is used to treat about one million cancer patients in the United States each year and is very effective in destroying cancer cells. However, in prostate cancer treatment the most common side effects arise when the radiation beam misses the prostate but irradiates adjacent healthy organs causing complications like impotence, urinary incontinence and rectal bleeding. Therefore, doctors must guard against damaging healthy tissues that surround the tumor caused by misalignment and unpredictable tumor motion.

The Calypso(R) 4D Localization System GPS system is now enabling Swedish Cancer Institute physicians the ability to pinpoint a prostate tumor's location with greater accuracy and continuously monitor its position in a real-time fashion during radiation treatment. This technology, which has FDA 510(k) clearance, uses tiny electromagnetic sensors, called Beacon(R) transponders, that are each about the size of a small grain of rice. Transponders are implanted in the prostate prior to treatment. Subsequently, the Calypso System continuously monitors the position and motion of the organ by tracking transponder positions during therapy delivery and alerts clinicians when the prostate is not properly aligned with the radiation beam.