News | Press Releases

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March 7, 2011

TOSHIBA’S AQUILION LARGE BORE CT SYSTEM IMPROVES ACCURACY OF RADIATION ONCOLOGY PLANNING AT GREAT RIVER MEDICAL CENTER

Toshiba’s Aquilion Large Bore Offers Superior Image Quality and the Industry’s Largest True Field-of-View

TUSTIN, Calif., March 7, 2011 – When planning radiation therapy treatments for cancer, it is critical to accurately target the tumor and spare healthy tissue. In order to achieve this, a CT simulation of the patient in the ideal treatment position, with excellent image quality and without truncating anatomy, is required. Standard bore CT systems constrain patient positioning by limiting the use of positioning devices like inclined breast boards, because the bore and scan field-of-view cannot accommodate a patient positioned off-center. Furthermore, the anatomy in the images of large patients is frequently clipped by the small field-of-view of standard bore CTs, potentially compromising treatment plans and the ability to use advanced techniques like IMRT and arc treatments. The Cancer Care Center at Great River Medical Center in West Burlington, Iowa, is using Toshiba America Medical Systems’ Aquilion^TM Large Bore CT system to minimize the constraints imposed by standard bore CTs on its treatment plans.

The Aquilion Large Bore helps Great River Medical Center treat oncology patients, including breast, prostate and colon cancer patients and enables physicians to treat patients with IMRT. The system’s large bore allows more positioning options for patients such as with their arms over their head or their legs in a frog leg position, allowing Great River’s therapists to capture the studies needed to optimally treat all patients.

“The Aquilion Large Bore’s superior image quality and large field-of-view help improve treatment plans by accurately identifying the target treatment area, improving patient safety by ensuring healthy tissue is spared unnecessary radiation,” said Dr. William McGinnis, clinical associate professor of radiation oncology, University of Iowa Roy and Lucille Carver School of Medicine, and medical director, Great River Medical Center Cancer Care Center. “In addition, the design and features of the Aquilion Large Bore allow us to better accommodate bariatric patients, many of whom were previously sent to other facilities for radiation oncology treatment. The Aquilion’s wide bore opening enables us to comfortably and safely treat these patients while obtaining high-quality images regardless of the patient’s size or position.”

A recent study, conducted in part by Earl Nixon, radiation therapy physicist, Great River Medical Center, and faculty at the University of Iowa Department of Radiation Oncology, demonstrated the importance of using a CT system with a large field-of-view for radiation therapy treatment planning. The study, presented at the 2007 meeting of The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), was titled Evaluation of Computed Tomography (CT) Extended Field-of-View (eFOV) Imaging Impact on Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning. In this study, Mr. Nixon found that 28 percent of patients did not fit within a 50 cm standard field-of-view. To provide a workaround to this limitation, most vendors developed a feature called an “extrapolated field-of-view” that extends the viewable area, but at the cost of significant image distortion. Mr. Nixon quantified the effect of treatment planning errors that can result from the use of extrapolation and also found that these errors could be eliminated for 98 percent of patients on a system with a 70 cm acquired field-of-view.

Meeting this critical need, the Aquilion Large Bore has the industry’s largest bore opening, of 90 cm and 70 cm acquired field-of-view, making it possible to image patients of nearly all sizes. This large field-of-view and bore opening enable more patient positions to be imaged within the acquired field-of-view, creating more accurate images for treatment planning. The system’s 70 cm true acquired field-of-view provides dramatically more anatomical coverage than other large bore CT systems, thereby simplifying patient setup and ensuring treatment planning images fully capture patient anatomy. The Aquilion Large Bore virtually eliminates the problem of truncated anatomy’s limiting treatment trajectories for complex IMRT and arc treatments.

“The larger data collection area of the Aquilion Large Bore system prevents clinicians from having to compromise when planning for radiation therapy,” said Nixon. “With a significant portion of our patients needing to be positioned for breast and pelvic imaging we are able to image them in the preferred treatment position, critical for accurate radiation therapy dose calculations.”

“Accuracy is paramount in radiation oncology and the Aquilion Large Bore provides physicians with the tools needed to provide superior images for uncompromised simulation and more accurate treatment planning,” said Joseph Cooper, director, CT Business Unit, Toshiba. “The Aquilion Large Bore also improves the comfort and versatility of exams as it can accommodate a variety of patients and exam types.”

About Toshiba’s Aquilion CT Product Line Recognition

The Aquilion CT product line has received numerous accolades including the number one ranking in CT from MD Buyline since 2002 (eight consecutive years). The Aquilion 64 line has also been named Best in KLAS in 2006 and 2007 in CT; Best in KLAS in 2008, 2009 and 2010 for 64-detector row and above; and Frost & Sullivan’s “Healthcare Innovation Award in Cardiovascular Imaging” in 2008. (For more information about KLAS, visit www.KLASresearch.com.) Most recently, Toshiba’s service was ranked number one in 26 out of 40 attributes in the IMV, Ltd. ServiceTrak™ Imaging 2010 report on CT system service.

About Great River Medical Center

Great River Medical Center is a regional medical center offering acute, skilled and intermediate care to residents of southeast Iowa, west-central Illinois and northeast Missouri. The hospital offers comprehensive medical and surgical services on an inpatient and outpatient basis. Great River Medical Center is part of Great River Health Systems, a 378-bed regional, integrated health-care system that includes hematology, oncology, radiation therapy, retail pharmacies, retail medical equipment and supplies services, outpatient renal dialysis center and a network of specialty and primary-care clinics located throughout the region.

About Toshiba

With headquarters in Tustin, Calif., Toshiba America Medical Systems markets, sells, distributes and services diagnostic imaging systems, and coordinates clinical diagnostic imaging research for all modalities in the United States. Toshiba Medical Systems Corp., an independent group company of Toshiba Corp., is a global leading provider of diagnostic medical imaging systems and comprehensive medical solutions, such as CT, Cath & EP Labs, X-ray, Ultrasound, MRI and information systems. Toshiba Corp. is a worldwide leader in technology, electronic and electrical products, digital consumer products, electronic devices and components, power systems, industrial and social infrastructure systems and home appliances. Toshiba was founded in 1875 and today operates a global network of more than 742 companies with more than 204,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing $68 billion. For more information, visit Toshiba’s website at www.medical.toshiba.com.