Morristown Memorial Hospital Shortens Radiation Treatment Times With Siemens'
SIMTEC Software for Delivering Radiation Therapy
MORRISTOWN, N.J.--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 21, 1999--Morristown Memorial
Hospital has cut cancer treatment time in half for some patients by using
Siemens' SIMTEC(TM) software specially designed to automatically deliver
intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), an advanced cancer treatment
that pinpoints complex radiation doses on tumors as it minimizes radiation
damage to healthy surrounding tissues.
James Wong, MD, Chairman of the Radiation Oncology Department at Morristown
Memorial Hospital said, "The introduction of SIMTEC to Morristown Memorial
Hospital's Carol G. Simon Cancer Center has allowed us to deliver highly
sophisticated treatments in a timely and effective manner, increasing
department productivity and best of all reducing patient treatment time.
"We have two PRIMUS(TM) linear accelerators with SIMTEC, BEAMVIEW(PLUSTM)
portal imaging systems, LANTIS with ImageRT(TM) option, a Somatom Plus 4 CT
system, and a SIMVIEW 3000(TM) simulator. Most of our cases are curative in
nature and not simple plans. Approximately 60 percent of setups are either
four to six fields that with standard blocks treatment would take 15 minutes
from start to finish. We can now treat six field prostates in seven minutes.
That is a reduction in time of 53 percent in treatment deliveries."
Patrick Boyle, Group Vice President, Oncology Care Systems, Siemens Medical
Systems noted, "The significant value of SIMTEC for our customers is that
hospitals and community clinics can achieve the cost efficiencies they need,
while also offering their patients the benefit of less time spent in a
treatment procedure."
SIMTEC allows IMRT treatments to be delivered in an automated fashion that
decreases total time to set up and deliver patient treatments. Therapists are
able to set up automated sequencing from outside of the treatment room, thus
eliminating the need to re-enter the room between treatments.
This means that more patients can be treated in a shorter period of time. At
the same time, patients get more comfortable treatments by lessening the
amount of total time required for their daily treatment. SIMTEC also
automatically verifies the treatment delivery, which is critical benefit for
both hospital and patient.
Morristown Memorial Hospital is an Atlantic Health System 517-bed hospital in
Morristown, NJ. A major teaching, private, non-profit hospital affiliated
with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey New Jersey
Medical School, Morristown Memorial's specialties include adult and pediatric
oncology, cardiology and cardiac surgery, critical and emergency care and
inpatient rehabilitation and neonatal intensive care services. The cancer
center provides a one-stop shopping for patients so they can see a medical
oncologist, radiation oncologist, and a surgeon all in the same building.
The Oncology Care Systems Group, based in Concord, Calif., develops and
markets a range of radiation oncology products for the worldwide market. It
is part of Siemens Medical Systems, Inc., a leading supplier of advanced
medical electronic systems and products. The company employs about 4,700
people in the U.S, and has annual sales of about $1.7 billion. The Siemens
Oncology Care Systems Group's website address is
http://www.sms.siemens.com/ocsg.
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