TomoTherapy to Introduce TQA at 50th Annual AAPM Meeting : Industry’s First Integrated Machine QA Solution Expands Data Access, Improves Clinical Workflow for Hi·Art® Treatment System Users
2008-07-25 01:06:03
TomoTherapy to Introduce TQA at 50th Annual AAPM Meeting : Industry’s First Integrated Machine QA Solution Expands Data Access, Improves Clinical Workflow for Hi·Art® Treatment System Users
TQA
™
at the 50th Annual American
Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Meeting in Houston,
July 27-31, 2008. TQA, or Tomo Quality Assurance™,
is the first integrated, machine-specific quality assurance (QA)
solution to be offered by a radiation therapy vendor. The TQA application
streamlines the collection—and simplifies the
review—of data used to monitor radiation
therapy equipment and procedures. All TQA data can be easily
exported for third-party validation.
” TQA was built by, and for, our physics colleagues in the clinic ” |
TQA has been developed by TomoTherapy in partnership with medical
physicists experienced in the clinical use of the Hi·Art®
treatment system. Bob Cravens, M.S., TomoTherapy’s
lead applied physicist and TQA architect, believes customer input
was critical in bringing this powerful set of physics tools to market.
“TQA was built by, and for, our
physics colleagues in the clinic,” says
Cravens. “They helped us identify key data
and workflow requirements1, and provided
valuable feedback throughout the development process. The result is an
application that integrates easily into daily workflow, increases
productivity and facilitates more informed decision-making.
Additionally, it better aligns our support team with TomoTherapy
customers, allowing them to share the same data set.”
The TQA application leverages the Hi·Art
treatment system’s unique platform
integration. It works by gathering data from the on-board detector and
other sub-systems that monitor the device continuously during delivery.
The data is then presented in a customizable, calendar-based interface
that is accessible from the Hi·Art
system’s operator station. With this
comprehensive data dashboard, any parameter’s
status can be identified at a glance and comparatively assessed via
automated reporting and trending features.
“TQA can provide a wealth of
additional information, which means I can work more proactively and
better assess the system with predictive analysis,”
said Walter Grant, Ph.D., chief of Physics at Baylor College of Medicine
and The Methodist Hospital in Houston, one of 16 customers to evaluate
the application. “TQA can also
save me considerable time. In evaluating the application, I have found
QA measurements that took over an hour to complete, analyze and document
can now be finished in 10 minutes. This will certainly make my life
easier.”
Cravens stated that TQA will provide immediate benefits to customers who
are new to the Hi·Art platform as
well: “We often hear that Hi·Art
is the easiest system to use, once our customers have become familiar
with it. TQA should help clinics hit the ground running even
faster. It’s a turnkey operation, complete
with QA guidelines, that eliminates unnecessary complexity.”
Noted TomoTherapy CEO Fred Robertson: “We are
excited to introduce TQA at AAPM’s 50th
Annual Meeting. Integrated machine QA is one more example of what’s
possible with our truly integrated platform for radiation therapy, and
one more reminder that we are really just at the beginning of our
product lifecycle. There are many more productivity- and quality-focused
enhancements to come.”
Bob Cravens, M.S., and Walter Grant, Ph.D., will each be discussing TQA
in the TomoTherapy booth during AAPM. For exact times of these and more
presentations throughout the week, please visit AAPM booth #519, or the AAPM
overview page on TomoTherapy.com.
About TomoTherapy Incorporated
TomoTherapy Incorporated has developed, markets and sells the TomoTherapy®
Hi·Art®
treatment system, an advanced radiation therapy system for the treatment
of a wide variety of cancers. The Hi·Art
treatment system combines integrated CT imaging with conformal radiation
therapy to deliver sophisticated radiation treatments with speed and
precision while reducing radiation exposure to surrounding healthy
tissue. The company’s stock is traded on the
NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol TOMO. To learn more about
TomoTherapy, please visit TomoTherapy.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this release regarding future products, events,
expectations and other similar matters, including but not limited to
statements using the terms “will”,
“can” or “should”
constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking
statements contained in this press release are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those anticipated, including but not limited to factors such as our
ability to integrate acquired assets, ability to protect intellectual
property, risks of interruption due to events beyond the company’s
control, and the other risks listed from time to time in TomoTherapy’s
filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which by this
reference are incorporated herein. These forward-looking statements
represent TomoTherapy’s judgments as of the
date of this press release. TomoTherapy assumes no obligation to update
or revise the forward-looking statements in this release because of new
information, future events or otherwise.
1. C. Ramsey, J. Gibbons, T. Holmes, K. Jeong, K. Langen, D. Low, S.
Meeks, N. Papanikolaou, K. Schubert, M. Tomsej – Mechanical and
Dosimetric Quality Assurance for Helical TomoTherapy – International
Journal of Radiation OncologyBiologyPhysics, Volume 69 , Issue 3 ,
Pages S699 – S699
©2008 TomoTherapy Incorporated. All rights
reserved. TomoTherapy, TQA, the TomoTherapy logo and Hi·Art
are among trademarks, service marks or registered trademarks of
TomoTherapy Incorporated.
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