China's Hospitals Using Advanced Intraoperative Electron-Beam Radiation Technology for Cancer Treatment

Hospitals in China are now utilizing new radiotherapy technology for cancer patients with benefits that include increased survival rates, better local tumor control, shorter treatment cycles, and fewer side effects.

IntraOp Medical Corp. (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a provider of intraoperative electron-beam radiation therapy (IOERT) systems for the treatment and eradication of cancer, reported that it has received an order for a Mobetron system from the Shanghai Tumor Hospital in Shanghai, China.

IntraOp's Mobetron is a mobile device that delivers IOERT to a tumor site during cancer surgery. The Mobetron enables radiation and surgical oncologists to target the precise area that requires radiation and to deliver an effective dose of radiation directly to the affected tissue during surgery. Since the Mobetron is a mobile, self-shielded device, clinicians will be able to move the Mobetron between operating rooms, avoiding the high cost of shielding an operating room with as much as 100 tons of concrete or lead. Shanghai Tumor will use the Mobetron to treat many forms of cancer, including breast, colon, rectal, sarcoma, and lung cancers.

This is the third Mobetron system that will be installed in China. In 2008, IntraOp installed Mobetrons in the China Academy of Medical Science (CAMS) and the PLA's Beijing General Hospital. The two Beijing institutions quickly integrated the Mobetron, to add an IOERT program to their radiation therapy options. In the four months since installation, the two centers have completed over 50 treatments combined. This includes a wide range of tumor types, including carcinomas of the colon, pancreas, breast, as well as sarcomas, and gynecologic malignancies. With units now installed and operating at the largest teaching hospital and the largest military hospital in China, adoption of IOERT at other medical centers in China can be expected.

The rapid adoption of IOERT in Beijing was in large part due to the Scholarly Exchange program IntraOp Medical helped to coordinate. One of the participating physicians, Dr. Ben Calvo of the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, USA), who participated in the exchange, stated upon his return from China, "The prospect for IOERT use in China is enormous. Oncologists there are faced with the pressure to administer radiation efficiently and reduce the load on existing radiation resources as well as patient resources. The Mobetron easily enables them to accomplish this goal. Given the sheer number of cancer patients in the country, I see this as being a very important treatment modality in the future of Chinese medicine."

Dr. Wei He, deputy director of CAMS, said, "We are very excited to be using the Mobetron at CAMS. The Mobetron and IORT will dramatically impact the way cancer is treated throughout China, and the impact is immediate. This will clearly save lives."

Doctors in these Chinese institutions are now actively engaged in discussions regarding multi-institutional, international clinical studies and trials. The high patient loads and cancer occurrences make these institutions suitable partners for a US-based hospital looking to add patient volumes to further prospective clinical studies on the effects of IOERT.

IntraOp CEO John Powers added, "I am very excited about the societal impact that even one IOERT indication, such as the single fraction breast treatment, will have in China. Today, 90% of Chinese women get mastectomies to avoid five to seven weeks of external beam radiation. With the Mobetron, doctors now have the option to offer the most patient-friendly, clinically effective solution. When women realize they now have the option of an equivalent treatment in one day, meaning complete breast cancer treatment, surgery, radiation, and reconstruction, at the time of surgery, it will revolutionize the way breast cancer is treated throughout China."

IntraOp Medical's flagship product, the Mobetron, is the first fully portable, self-shielding intraoperative electron radiation therapy device designed for use in any operating room. Leading hospitals, from university research centers to specialized cancer clinics in North America, Europe, and Asia, use the Mobetron as a key part of their comprehensive cancer program.

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