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Lawrence Livermore Lab Pioneers Advanced Radiation Treatment for Cancer
Lawrence Livermore Lab Pioneers Advanced Radiation Treatment for
Cancer; NOMOS Corp. Receives Food & Drug Administration Clearance for
New Technology
LIVERMORE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 2000--Mankind will soon
have another weapon in the 4,000-year fight against cancer. Clearance
has been granted by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for an
advanced method for targeting tumors with radiation treatment
developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory.
Dubbed Peregrine -- after the patron saint of cancer patients -- the
technology could eventually save thousands of lives each year by
helping doctors direct more radiation at tumors, with minimal damage
to surrounding healthy tissue.
NOMOS Corporation, a leading supplier of radiation treatment
technologies located in Sewickley, PA recently received U.S. Food &
Drug Administration clearance to produce and market Peregrine systems
to the medical community.
Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson made the announcement today at
NOMOS headquarters. "Peregrine could change the way cancer is treated
in America," said Secreuary Richardson. "This technology was
developed through advances resulting from nuclear weapons research
and with the multidisciplinary scientific expertise of a Department
of Energy national laboratory. This is an excellent example of
turning swords into plowshares."
Peregrine has been under development at Lawrence Livermore since
1994, in collaboration with researchers at the University of
California, San Francisco and other academic institutions.
More Radiation Where It's Needed
Peregrine is a computer-based system for calculating, in three
dimensions, where radiation goes in the body, and how much of it is
striking tissue, bone or empty cavities. Peregrine will allow doctors
to more accurately target tumors with radiation, permitting
physicians to increase the dose needed to destroy tumors without
increasing damage to healthy surrounding tissue.
Each year, more than 100,000 cancer patients who are treated with
radiation in hopes of a cure die with active tumors at the primary
cancer site. Improved dose calculations using Peregrine could help
doctors more effectively attack such tumors.
"Peregrine will touch lives," said Christine Hartmann Siantar, the
Livermore Lab's principal Peregrine researcher. "It is a breakthrough
technology that can be used in treatment clinics everywhere."
John A. Friede, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of
NOMOS Corporation, said, "The combined efforts of the NOMOS and LLNL
Peregrine teams to compile the data necessary to obtain FDA clearance
has been extraordinary."
"We can now offer this unparalleled technology to doctors and
clinicians who can provide 'better medicine' for cancer patients,
underscoring our commitment to improving the treatment of cancer as
well as the lives of cancer patients throughout the world."
Monte Carlo Improves The Odds
Peregrine combines Livermore's almost 50 years of radiation physics
expertise with advanced computer architectures to produce a system
that determines radiation dose information in minutes.
Peregrine relies on a mathematical technique called Monte Carlo to
track radiation. It simulates the trillions of radiation particles
that enter the body during treatment and accurately predicts
radiation dose. Peregrine uses individual patient CT scans to tailor
precise radiation dose calculations for each patient, based on each
patient's distinct anatomy and disease.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco worked
closely with Livermore scientists during development and validation
of Peregrine.
"Our collaboration convinced us that this program will be able to
accurately predict dose distributions for the most complex intensity
modulated radiotherapy plans," said Lynn Verhey, Ph.D., professor and
Vice-Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology, UCSF.
"The Peregrine program will allow us to use the system clinically to
plan and deliver these radiotherapy plans with greater confidence."
Multi-Disciplinary Capability Produced Peregrine
Making Peregrine a reality required the expertise of Livermore
researchers from a number of disciplines, including physicists,
computer scientists and electrical engineers.
"We're extremely pleased to be able to advance science in an area of
great human significance," said Jeff Wadsworth, Livermore's deputy
director for Science and Technology. "That's what Lawrence Livermore
is all about."
NOMOS' initial deployment of Peregrine will be incorporated into its
own inverse treatment planning system, called CORVUS, and will be
showcased at the upcoming meeting of the American Society for
Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) scheduled to be held in
Boston, October 22-26. A stand-alone version of Peregrine will
subsequently be developed to work with other treatment planning
systems, making jts unmatched capability and accuracy available to
every cancer patient.
City of Hope Cancer Center in Los Angeles will be one of the first
organizations to use Peregrine. "We are excited that we will be able
to offer our patients the latest in radiation therapy technology,"
said Jeffrey Wong, M.D., Chair, Division of Radiation Oncology, City
of Hope.
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Sandy Perle Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100
Director, Technical Extension 2306
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division Fax:(714) 668-3149
ICN Biomedicals, Inc. E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
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Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com
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