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| |  Radiation Oncology Center Launches Breakthrough Cancer Treatment BOSTON -- March 27, 1997 -- New England Medical Center's Radiation Oncology Center today introduced a breakthrough cancer-fighting tool -- Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). This pioneering technology is considered to be the most significant advance in cancer treatment in 30 years. IMRT uses a 3-dimensional computerized imaging system to deliver highly focused radiation beams to tumor targets. As a result, for the first time, clinicians can now precisely match the radiation dose to the shape of the tumor without destroying sensitive organs around it. "The double-edged sword of treating cancer is that in the process of killing cancer cells, you may also destroy healthy tissue. IMRT allows us to administer 40% more radiation while sparing up to 70% of surrounding tissue," according to David Wazer, M.D., director of New England Medical Center's Radiation Oncology Center. While nine other locations nationwide are involved in IMRT clinical trials, the Radiation Oncology Center was the second facility in the world to begin IMRT treatments and the first in the country to initiate a long-term plan incorporating IMRT into its cancer treatment program. "We are already seeing dramatic outcomes in patients with head and neck tumors," said Dr. Wazer. "One patient with a brain tumor wrapped around the optic nerve would have been blinded by the tumor. Using IMRT, we dramatically reduced the tumor's size and reserved the person's eyesight without damaging the optical nerve." Wazer has already used IMRT successfully for prostate cancer, and IMRT will soon be used effectively for treatment of cancers in almost any anatomic location -- including the breast and lung. The Radiation Oncology Center will complete its IMRT clinical trials this week, and results will be published in September. These results will be carefully reviewed, since the Center has treated 83 of the 350 IMRT patients nationwide. While most initial treatments have ocused on the brain, neck, and spinal cord, the Center was the first to use IMRT to treat cancers of the esophagus and prostate. Radiation specialists predict that IMRT will be adopted by other major medical centers and community hospitals within three years. The price of this technology -- about $500,000, compared to the cost of related technologies such as the proton beam (about $50 million) -- is The Radiation Oncology Center at New England Medical Center uses the Peacock System as its IMRT delivery system. Peacock is the invention of Mark Carol, M.D., an expert in neurosurgery and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy. The first Peacock System was used at Methodist Hospital and Baylor University in 1994. The FDA granted clearance of the hardware in 1995. By 1996, the entire system, including the software -- which New England Medical Center clinicians and radiation oncologists helped develop -- received FDA clearance. In addition to writing the software, NEMC physicists Mark Engler, Ph.D., and Jen-San Tsai, Ph.D., have defined the international safety standards for IMRT treatment. New England Medical Center's Radiation Oncology Center is internationally known for its radiotherapy treatment of all types of malignant disease. New England Medical Center is a full-service, tertiary health care institution.
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