Siemens Next Generation technology could bring new hope to cancer patients

So far, dozens of patients have been treated at MAASTRO Clinic in the Netherlands, the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, and Baton Rouge General's Pennington Cancer Centre in Louisiana, USA.

Unique in design, the Artiste Solution is a linear accelerator engineered specifically for Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART). It is an integrated imaging and workflow solution that offers a comprehensive portfolio of image-guided and advanced treatment delivery protocols, including in-room CT imaging capabilities and a new multileaf collimator, 160 MLC.

One of the first patients treated with Artiste was seen at DKFZ, where the linear accelerator was used to administer radiotherapy for an inoperable oesophagus tumour.

“Treatment for this type of tumour demands a very complicated radiotherapy approach,” said Prof. Dr. Huber, head of the Radiation Oncology Clinical Cooperation Unit at DKFZ. “Using Artiste's 160 MLC Multileaf Collimator, we were able to significantly improve the precision of the dose delivery while protecting immediate surrounding healthy tissue.”

That same week, several patients at MAASTRO Clinic were also treated using Artiste. A couple of challenging clinical cases included a metastasised tumour in the abdominal region and a patient with two separate metastases: one in the head and neck region, and one in the knee cap.

“The advanced, high-end imaging capabilities of Artiste allow us to fully integrate all our Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) and MAASTRO-developed Dose-Guided Radiation Therapy (DGRT) methods in one clinical workflow. Artiste's imaging flexibility and simplified workflow help us to confidently treat proliferated tumours in a wide range of areas of the body,” said Bas Nijsten, medical radiotherapy physicist in the Maastricht Radiation Oncology Department.

More recently, the first U.S. patients were treated with Artiste Solution at the Baton Rouge General's Pennington Cancer Centre. The first two patients were treated for lung and prostate tumours, respectively, where Artiste's 2D and 3D imaging allowed confirmation of tumour location and enabled more focused and aggressive treatment while helping spare organs at risk.

“With Artiste, Siemens is changing the way radiotherapy is delivered. As the first site in the U.S. with Artiste, our mission at Baton Rouge General's Pennington Cancer Centre is to combine our commitment to compassionate cancer care with the latest, most advanced treatment technology,” said Dr. William Russell, medical director of Radiation Oncology at Pennington Cancer Centre.

“This exciting milestone has come to fruition thanks to the clinical collaboration between Siemens, MAASTRO, DKFZ, and Baton Rouge General,” said Holger Schmidt, CEO, Oncology Care Systems, Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc. “Artiste's unique integration of technologies and streamlined workflow allows clinicians to truly customise patient treatment by providing them the flexibility and means to confidently optimise treatment on a per-patient basis. It is an honour for us at Siemens to be part of this collaborative effort to help improve quality of care for cancer patients around the world. We are delighted to call 55 new Artiste orders since its introduction in the market last January.”

The goal of Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART) is to ensure the therapeutic dose is delivered precisely to the target, and healthy tissue is spared as planned. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to image the patient just prior to treatment, verify that the patient position is correct, and adapt to any anatomical changes immediately before, or even during, treatment.