A clinical study has demonstrated the use of Calypso® real-time tracking during high-dose external beam radiation for prostate cancer resulted in a significant reduction in serious treatment-related side effects. Entitled “Assessing the Impact of Margin Reduction (AIM),” the study’s findings were recently published in Urology (The GOLD JOURNAL).
Dr. Constantine Mantz, radiation oncologist at 21st Century Oncology in Cape Coral, FL, and lead investigator of the study, explains the significance of the findings: “When prostate cancer patients evaluate treatment options, their objective is to select the therapeutic approach that will cure the cancer while allowing them to remain as fully functional as possible. The Calypso System, which enables physicians to deliver increased doses of radiation directly to the tumor, while sparing the surrounding healthy organs from exposure, is fundamental to our overall approach of treating prostate cancer.”
Researchers compared the AIM study group to patients in a comparator study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008 (1). In both groups, patient-reported quality of life was assessed before and after the completion of prostate radiation therapy using a clinically validated questionnaire that measures several different domains of the patient’s health. The result? The AIM study group experienced significantly fewer side effects associated with bowel urgency and frequency, fecal incontinence and urinary irritation than the comparator group. AIM patients not receiving hormonal therapy also experienced smaller, yet statistically significant advantages over the comparator group in terms of sexual function.
Patients were evaluated before and after treatment. Patients treated without Calypso reported significantly more side effects compared to those treated with Calypso real-time tracking in three of the four categories surveyed.
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Patients experience reduced prostate radiation side effects with Calypso real-time tracking.
