Calypso GPS for the Body Helps New Jersey Oncologists Target a Moving Lung Tumor | Varian

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Calypso GPS for the Body Helps New Jersey Oncologists Target a Moving Lung Tumor

Calypso GPS for the Body Helps New Jersey Oncologists Target a Moving Lung Tumor

83-year-old New Jersey Resident Among the First in the U.S. to Receive a Calypso-Guided Treatment for Cancer of the Lung

Calypso® GPS for the Body® technology is now available for use during lung stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). The Anchored Beacon® lung transponder, a device that can detect even slight movements of a tumor in three dimensions, recently received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is now available for clinical use in the United States.

“Delivering very high doses to small, targeted areas is especially challenging in the lung, because the target moves as the patient breathes,” said David Dubin, MD, Chief of Radiation Oncology at Englewood Health, one of the first sites in the U.S. to launch a Calypso-guided lung SBRT program. “We want to spare the healthy tissue surrounding the target, but we also have to ensure we hit the target. In order to improve upon existing methods, you have to know where the target is with greater precision. Calypso Anchored Beacon technology lets us continuously track the target in three dimensions as the patient breathes throughout each treatment session.”

According to Dr. Dubin, success with Calypso for lung SBRT has come from the collaboration between a team of radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, and pulmonologists at Englewood, a medium-sized community center. The process begins with a pulmonologist, who uses electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (ENB) to implant three Anchored Beacon transponders in small airways—approximately 2–2.5 mm in diameter—within or near the tumor target. Each transponder, which is about the size of a grain of rice, has five small "legs" or anchors that provide stable fixation to prevent it from migrating out of position. The legs are constrained in the pre-loaded Calypso lung catheter. When the transponder is deployed in the airway, the legs expand outward to anchor them in place.

“Our pulmonologists have found that implanting the Calypso Beacon transponders is as quick as implanting other markers,” commented Michael Speiser, Ph.D., medical physicist at Englewood. “They do this when the patient gets a biopsy for a suspicious lesion, so there is no need for an additional procedure.”

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The clinical team at Englewood Health recently treated an 83-year-old New Jersey resident with Calypso-guided SBRT for stage 1 lung cancer. “This particular patient also had some postnasal drip and would occasionally want to cough or clear his throat, so there was the potential for sudden, unplanned movement,” said Dr. Dubin. “However, the Calypso system detected the target internal motion and held the beam faster than our eyes could detect that the patient had any movement.”

“The Calypso system provides clinicians with levels of accuracy and precision previously not technically achievable,” said Dr. Dubin. “Ultimately, this will provide the confidence necessary to further spare healthy tissue while ensuring successful treatment.”

 

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