New solution for cancer therapy from Siemens: IM-RealART solution adapts treatment and therapy planning to anatomical changes

With IM-RealART, treatment plans for radiotherapy can be adapted especially fast to changes in the shape and position of tumors. The treatment plan is revised even while the patient is still lying on the treatment table.

This means that the radiation fields and dose are recalculated directly before the next fraction is irradiated. With IM-RealART, Siemens Healthcare offers a new solution for especially fast replanning of treatment plans in adaptive radiotherapy.

The solution includes the Siemens products Artiste™ Solution (linear accelerator), the 550TxT™ treatment table, the CTVision™ System for diagnostic CT (computed tomography) imaging and the RealART™ planning system from Prowess Inc. One of the special advantages of IM-RealART is CTVision. Using this system, top quality “gold standard” images of tumors can be taken directly in the treatment room using a CT scanner running on rails. While the patient lies immobilized on the treatment table, the current scans are compared to the original ones on which the treatment planning was based and evaluated.

If the shape of the tumor has changed, the treatment plan can be adapted immediately in order to correct the shape of the treatment radiation field as well as the dose. This recalculation is usually performed in just seven minutes. Since the patient's position is not changed during this period, it is possible to irradiate the tumor with high precision. Using the 160MLC™ multileaf collimator from Siemens, the radiation field can be confined to the tumor very precisely, thus saving the surrounding tissue.

IM-RealART can be combined with the Siemens solution IM-Confident™ Plan, which consists of Artiste with the 160MLC and an intelligent irradiation planning software. These components help reduce the treatment time required for intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to five minutes or even less.

IM-RealART and IM-Confident from Siemens offer two solutions which, on the one hand, make daily workflows in radiooncology much simpler and more efficient while, at the same time, enabling high precision patient treatment: Using innovative technologies, the tumor is irradiated with pinpoint accuracy while the latest software and imaging ensure that planning, replanning and therapy all proceed as swiftly as possible. This corresponds to Siemens' philosophy for radiotherapy: To achieve rapid and precise treatment while sparing the patient undue discomfort.

The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry and a trendsetter in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, medical information technology and hearing aids. Siemens is the only company to offer customers products and solutions for the entire range of patient care from a single source – from prevention and early detection to diagnosis, and on to treatment and aftercare.

By optimizing clinical workflows for the most common diseases, Siemens also makes healthcare faster, better and more cost-effective. Siemens Healthcare employs some 49,000 employees worldwide and operates in over 130 countries. In fiscal year 2008 (to September 30), the Sector posted revenue of 11.2 billion euros and profit of 1.2 billion euros.