RefleXion Medical, an external-beam theranostic oncology company, today announced that Smilow Cancer Hospital, part of Yale New Haven Heath, Connecticut’s largest health care system, has successfully delivered the world’s first radiotherapy treatment plan that combines different radiotherapy modalities to a patient with metastatic cancer.
Multi-target treatment (MTT), the company’s most recent upgrade for its X1 platform, enables physicians to combine SCINTIX biology-guided radiotherapy, a new modality for tumors in the lung or bone, with conventional stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for solid tumors in other body locations. Another innovative technology introduced is the ability to visualize SCINTIX data at defined intervals during treatment.
“By integrating different treatment modalities within the same plan, we can tailor the optimal treatment approach to each tumor,” said Henry S. Park, M.D., M.P.H., chief, Biology-guided Radiotherapy Program, Therapeutic Radiology at Yale School of Medicine. “In this patient, SCINTIX therapy treated the moving lung tumor, while SBRT targeted a static tumor elsewhere.
“It was equally groundbreaking to visually confirm that the SCINTIX treatment responded to the tumor’s motion and delivered the dose precisely as planned. With conventional radiotherapy, once treatment commences, there is no visual assurance of what is happening inside the patient,” he continued.
The ability to monitor real-time data, which has never been possible before, ensures that SCINTIX treatment is progressing as expected. The entire hybrid MTT plan is delivered in five or fewer sessions.
“This platform upgrade brings cutting-edge functionality that marks a significant milestone in our pursuit of using SCINTIX therapy to treat multiple metastases with greater efficiency and precision,” said Sean Shirvani, M.D, M.P.H., chief medical officer at RefleXion. “We commend Dr. Park and the team at Yale New Haven Health for their pioneering efforts in creating and delivering the first hybrid radiotherapy plan. This innovation not only optimizes treatment for each tumor, but also enhances departmental workflow and improves the overall patient experience.”
SCINTIX therapy is the first and only radiotherapy that allows each cancer’s unique biology to autonomously determine where to deliver radiation during actual treatment delivery. SCINTIX technology uses positron emission tomography (PET) data produced by the tumor to react to expected motion from internal processes such as breathing, and unexpected motion caused by patient movement. The X1 also delivers state-of-the-art conventional SBRT for solid tumors located anywhere in the body. It is the only dual-treatment modality platform that can treat patients with indicated solid tumors of any stage, including stage 4 cancer.
