20.10.2014 - (idw) Georg-August-Universitt Gttingen

An international group of astronomers including a scientist from the University of Gttingen has found an explanation of the long-standing mystery of why magnetic fields are more common among cool white dwarf stars than among young and hotter ones. The results were published in Nature. Press release No. 242/2014

Magnetic white dwarfs appear younger than they are Scientists from Gttingen University link magnetic fields to atmospheric convection

(pug) An international group of astronomers including a scientist from the University of Gttingen has found an explanation of the long-standing mystery of why magnetic fields are more common among cool white dwarf stars than among young and hotter ones. The researchers showed that strong magnetic fields are sufficient to suppress convection over the entire surface in cool magnetic white dwarfs, which inhibits their cooling evolution relative to weakly magnetic and non-magnetic ones, making them appear younger than they truly are. The results were published in Nature.

White dwarf (WD) stars are the remnants of intermediate mass stars at the final stage of their evolution. Since the white dwarf does not burn any fusion in its interior, it cools down from the time it is born pretty much like a pot of hot water left out the fire. Therefore, the surface temperature of any white dwarf star can be uniquely linked to its age.

If a star-progenitor has a magnetic field, then the contraction process during the formation of the WD will amplify this field by many orders of magnitude. This is how magnetic white dwarf stars (MWD) appear. Because magnetic fields are expected to decay with time, and because surface temperature also drops when WD cools down, one might expect to detect more non-magnetic or weakly magnetic objects at cool temperatures, but the opposite is observed.

The researchers found that the magnetic field may have a global control of surface convection in cool MWD stars which explains their puzzling characteristics. By analyzing the light variability of the cool dwarf WD 1953-011 we found a direct link between the strength of local magnetic field and the local surface temperature, explains Dr. Denis Shulyak from Gttingen Universitys Institute for Astrophysics. This suggests that the magnetic field suppresses atmospheric convection, leading to dark spots in the most magnetized areas similar to that occurring in sunspots.

But if the global magnetic field is very strong (hundreds of kilogauss and above), it can then inhibit convective motions everywhere over the stellar surface and deep into the interior of the star. Because convection transfers a significant fraction of the total energy flux from subphotospheric layers to the surface in WD stars with surface temperatures below approximately 12,000 K, its suppression by strong magnetic fields will result in decrease of the stellar luminosity. If we now remember that cooling times of WD stars are inversely proportional to luminosities, then objects with globally suppressed convection should have longer cooling timescales than their non-magnetic or weakly magnetic twins. Therefore, magnetic suppression of cooling provides a natural explanation for the increase in number of MWD stars at cool temperatures where convection is the dominant energy transport mechanism. This result fully agrees with our theoretical predictions, says Shulyak.

The analysis of photometric variability of cool MWD stars and their unexpectedly high frequencies compared to non-magnetic stars, as well as the high dispersion of their space velocities (which carries the information about the stellar age) all these observational facts ultimately point towards the existence of a magnetic suppression of cooling in strongly magnetic, isolated WD stars.

If we imagine the WD star as an open pot with hot water left on the table to cool, then covering it with a lid will slow its cooling time. Strong magnetic field is this kind of lid in WD stars which suppresses convection and therefore heat loses. Our findings imply that the ages of most magnetic and cool MWD stars can be underestimated. This prompts a revision of our interpretation of the MWD cooling sequence that, in turn, may require tuning of our understanding of the evolution of the Galaxy and the Universe, concludes Shulyak.

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Magnetic white dwarfs appear younger than they are

View from the root top of the Tate Laboratory of Physics at the University of Minnesota on Friday, Oct. 10, 2014. (Pioneer Press: Juan Pablo Ramirez)

The graduate students who run public-viewing nights at the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics assume the public knows very little about the cosmos. This is a good thing, since what I know about the origins of the universe can be summed up in the theme song from the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory."

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state.

Then nearly 14 billion years ago, expansion started. Wait ...

I recently took my 12-year-old son to the observatory on top of the Tate Laboratory of Physics on the University of Minnesota campus, where every Friday night during spring and fall semesters, astrophysics teaching assistants give a short talk and let the public look through the 19th-century telescope.

My son is not one of those kids who is captivated by outer space, but he likes science, and I knew he would be interested in the antique scope.

"We do what we can to bring astronomy to the public because it's one of those sciences that captures the imagination," said graduate student Melanie Beck, whose interest in astronomy was sparked by seeing Comet Hale-Bopp as a child and who now heads up astrophysics outreach programs.

The Friday topics range from asteroids to the Big Bang, from spacecraft and satellites to the life and death of stars.

"People love to hear about galaxies, and they love to hear about colonizing Mars, and they always love black holes," Beck said. "Even if the topic is not about black holes, people always ask questions about black holes.

The night we were there, the subject was the most-distant galaxies. About 40 people, including college students on date nights and a few families, sat on hard chairs in a classroom with old radiators and a poster of the periodic table on one wall. It felt like Cosmos 101.

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At UMN lab, use 100-year-old telescope to see billion-year-old stars

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17-Oct-2014

Contact: Michelle Kirkwood press@astro.org 703-286-1600 American Society for Radiation Oncology @ASTRO_org

Fairfax, Va., October 17, 2014Image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) is a commonly used modality to ensure treatment accuracy in the management of pediatric tumors; however, consensus recommendations are needed in order to guide clinical decisions on the use of IGRT in treating pediatric patients, according to a study published in the September-October 2014 issue of Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the official clinical practice journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

IGRT is the process of using frequent imaging, typically performed in the treatment room prior to radiation delivery, throughout a patient's course of radiation therapy treatment to improve localization of the target and normal structures, which allows for more precise and accurate radiation delivery. IGRT is a common practice in both photon (traditional radiation therapy) and proton therapy to treat tumors close to sensitive structures and organs or in areas of the body prone to movement or change in shape.

This study, "Practice patterns of photon and proton pediatric image guided radiation treatment: Results from an International Pediatric Research Consortium," evaluates the use of IGRT in treatment planning for pediatric cancers in an international consortium comprised of seven institutions using either photon or proton therapy with dedicated pediatric expertise. Choosing optimal IGRT regimens that spare healthy tissue and organs is a particular concern for pediatric patients to help prevent potential late effects associated with the distribution of the radiation dose and the total radiation dose the patient receives.

Nine international institutions were selected to participate in the consortium and were sent a 53-item survey comprised of mixed dichotomous, rank order, constant sum and open-ended questions to evaluate patterns of IGRT use in definitive radiation therapy for patients 21 years old. Seven of the nine institutions completed the survey. The seven institutions treated a total of approximately 750 pediatric patients, on average, per year. Five institutions use photon therapy alone, one uses proton therapy alone and one uses both photon and proton therapy.

Among the seven sites, an estimated 623 patients were treated with photon therapy annually and up to 133 patients were treated with proton therapy annually. The central nervous system (CNS) was the most frequent treatment site at four of the seven institutions, comprising 25 to 65 percent of treated cases across the facilities. The two facilities using proton therapy most commonly treated CNS and head and neck cancers.

Both proton facilities used kV-planar IGRT in 100 percent of proton cases. One photon facility used IGRT in 100 percent of cases, and IGRT use in the other photon facilities varied. At all seven sites, IGRT was used in 90 to 100 percent of CNS cases and in 100 percent of head and neck cases. IGRT use was inconsistent in abdomen or pelvis site treatment, ranging from 20 to 100 percent of cases across the seven facilities.

IGRT use also varied across consortium facilities depending on tumor type. All seven institutions used IGRT for treatment of ependymoma (cancer of the tissue of the brain or spinal cord), abdominal and pelvic sarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma (cancer of the muscles attached to the bones). Five facilities implemented IGRT for management of medulloblastoma, neuroblastoma and extremity sarcoma.

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Image guided radiation therapy is commonly used to ensure accuracy in treating pediatric tumors

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Newswise Fairfax, Va., October 16, 2014 The fifth annual 5K Run for the Future set new records during the September 15, 2014 event held at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco220 runners participated, including six teams from academic institutions, and more than $70,000 was raised to support the Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI). The 2014 total is nearly triple 2013s record of $24,000. Donations were generated through runners registration fees and fundraising, as well as corporate sponsorships. The five-year total (2010-2014) raised for the ROI by the Race now stands at more than $150,000.

The 2014 Race included a new Academic Team Challenge, whereby institutional teams competed for a $1,000 academic scholarship. Each teams top three runners times were averaged for a Total Team Time. Team Mayo Clinic won the challenge with the fastest Total Team Time of 20:35.

The top two 2014 individual winners, male and female, were Matt McCurdy, MD, PhD, of the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin, with a time of 15:52, and Megan Daly, MD, of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center in Davis, California, with a time of 18:55.

Held each year on the Monday of the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in the Meetings host city, the 5K Run for the Future was held previously in Atlanta (2013), Boston (2012), Miami (2011) and San Diego (2010). Runners include radiation oncology physicians, medical students and other members of the radiation oncology treatment team, as well as radiation oncology industry leaders.

Thank you to all of the runners, supporters and sponsors of this fun and exciting race, particularly Radiation Business Solutions for their leadership of this event, said Theodore S. Lawrence, MD, PhD, FASTRO, president of the ROI Board of Trustees. It is extraordinary to witness the growth of the race this year, and we appreciate the generous support it generates for the ROI. Each dollar raised for the ROI strengthens our ability to support critical radiation oncology research that will improve patient outcomes and sustain the specialty for years to come.

The 5K Run for the Future is hosted and organized each year by Radiation Business Solutions, and all proceeds from the Race are donated to the ROI. The 2014 event was also sponsored by Elekta Inc., Varian Medical Systems, AE Design and Northwest Medical Physics Center.

ABOUT ROI The Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI) is a non-profit, 501 (c)(3) foundation created in 2006 by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Board of Directors to support research and education efforts around the world that enhance and confirm the critical role of radiation therapy in improving cancer treatment. ROI strategically funds research on new and existing radiation therapy treatments to identify links between best practices and improved outcomes, to evaluate the efficacy and cost-benefit of radiation therapy and to foster multi-institutional research in radiation oncology. For more information, visit http://www.roinstitute.org. ###

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Fifth Annual "5K Run for the Future" Raises More Than $70,000 for ROI

Oct 13, 2014

Astronomers Chih-Hao Li and David Phillips of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics want to rediscover Venusthat familiar, nearby planet stargazers can see with the naked eye much of the year.

Granted, humans first discovered Venus in ancient times. But Li and Phillips have something distinctly modern in mind. They plan to find the second planet again using a powerful new optical device installed on the Italian National Telescope that will measure Venus' precise gravitational pull on the sun. If they succeed, their first-of-its-kind demonstration of this new technology will be used for finding Earth-like exoplanets orbiting distant stars.

"We are building a telescope that will let us see the sun the way we would see other stars," said Phillips, who is a staff scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He and Li, a research associate at the Center for Astrophysics, will describe the device in a paper to be presented at The Optical Society's (OSA) 98th Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, being held Oct. 19-23 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Li is the lead author of the paper, which has 12 collaborators.

Astronomers have identified more than 1,700 exoplanets, some as far as hundreds of light years away. Most were discovered by the traditional transit method, which measures the decrease in brightness when a planet orbiting a distant star transits that luminous body, moving directly between the Earth and the star. This provides information about the planet's size, but not its mass.

Li and Phillips are developing a new laser-based technology known as the green astro-comb for use with the "radial velocity method," which offers complementary information about the mass of the distant planet. From this information, astronomers will be able to determine whether distant exoplanets they discover are rocky worlds like Earth or less dense gas giants like Jupiter. The method is precise enough to help astronomers identify Earth-like planets in the "habitable zone," the orbital distance "sweet-spot" where water exists as a liquid.

Better Precision with a Laser

The radial velocity method works by measuring how exoplanet gravity changes the light emitted from its star. As exoplanets circle a star, their gravitation tugs at the star changing the speed with which it moves toward or away from Earth by a small amount. The star speeds up slightly as it approaches Earth, with each light wave taking a fraction of a second less time to arrive than the wave before it. To an observer on Earth, the crests of these waves look closer together than they should, so they appear to have a higher frequency and look bluer. As the star recedes, the crests move further apart and the frequencies seem lower and redder.

This motion-based frequency change is known as the Doppler shift. Astronomers measure it by capturing the spectrum of a star on the pixels of a digital camera and watching how it changes over time.

Today's best spectrographs are only capable of measuring Doppler shifts caused by velocity changes of 1 meter per second or more. Only large gas giants or "super-earths" close to their host stars have enough gravity to cause those changes.

Originally posted here:

New optical device designed to measure gravitational pull of a planet should speed the search for Earth-like exoplanets

Astronomers Chih-Hao Li and David Phillips of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics want to rediscover Venus-that familiar, nearby planet stargazers can see with the naked eye much of the year.

Granted, humans first discovered Venus in ancient times. But Li and Phillips have something distinctly modern in mind. They plan to find the second planet again using a powerful new optical device installed on the Italian National Telescope that will measure Venus' precise gravitational pull on the sun. If they succeed, their first-of-its-kind demonstration of this new technology will be used for finding Earth-like exoplanets orbiting distant stars.

"We are building a telescope that will let us see the sun the way we would see other stars," said Phillips, who is a staff scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He and Li, a research associate at the Center for Astrophysics, will describe the device in a paper to be presented at The Optical Society's (OSA) 98th Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, being held Oct. 19-23 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Li is the lead author of the paper, which has 12 collaborators.

Astronomers have identified more than 1,700 exoplanets, some as far as hundreds of light years away. Most were discovered by the traditional transit method, which measures the decrease in brightness when a planet orbiting a distant star transits that luminous body, moving directly between the Earth and the star. This provides information about the planet's size, but not its mass.

Li and Phillips are developing a new laser-based technology known as the green astro-comb for use with the "radial velocity method," which offers complementary information about the mass of the distant planet.

From this information, astronomers will be able to determine whether distant exoplanets they discover are rocky worlds like Earth or less dense gas giants like Jupiter. The method is precise enough to help astronomers identify Earth-like planets in the "habitable zone," the orbital distance "sweet-spot" where water exists as a liquid.

Better Precision with a Laser The radial velocity method works by measuring how exoplanet gravity changes the light emitted from its star. As exoplanets circle a star, their gravitation tugs at the star changing the speed with which it moves toward or away from Earth by a small amount.

The star speeds up slightly as it approaches Earth, with each light wave taking a fraction of a second less time to arrive than the wave before it. To an observer on Earth, the crests of these waves look closer together than they should, so they appear to have a higher frequency and look bluer. As the star recedes, the crests move further apart and the frequencies seem lower and redder.

This motion-based frequency change is known as the Doppler shift. Astronomers measure it by capturing the spectrum of a star on the pixels of a digital camera and watching how it changes over time.

Today's best spectrographs are only capable of measuring Doppler shifts caused by velocity changes of 1 meter per second or more. Only large gas giants or "super-earths" close to their host stars have enough gravity to cause those changes.

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Rediscovering Venus to Find Faraway Earths

Astronomers Chih-Hao Li and David Phillips of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics want to rediscover Venus -- that familiar, nearby planet stargazers can see with the naked eye much of the year.

Granted, humans first discovered Venus in ancient times. But Li and Phillips have something distinctly modern in mind. They plan to find the second planet again using a powerful new optical device installed on the Italian National Telescope that will measure Venus' precise gravitational pull on the sun. If they succeed, their first-of-its-kind demonstration of this new technology will be used for finding Earth-like exoplanets orbiting distant stars.

"We are building a telescope that will let us see the sun the way we would see other stars," said Phillips, who is a staff scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He and Li, a research associate at the Center for Astrophysics, will describe the device in a paper to be presented at The Optical Society's (OSA) 98th Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, being held Oct. 19-23 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Li is the lead author of the paper, which has 12 collaborators.

Astronomers have identified more than 1,700 exoplanets, some as far as hundreds of light years away. Most were discovered by the traditional transit method, which measures the decrease in brightness when a planet orbiting a distant star transits that luminous body, moving directly between the Earth and the star. This provides information about the planet's size, but not its mass.

Li and Phillips are developing a new laser-based technology known as the green astro-comb for use with the "radial velocity method," which offers complementary information about the mass of the distant planet. From this information, astronomers will be able to determine whether distant exoplanets they discover are rocky worlds like Earth or less dense gas giants like Jupiter. The method is precise enough to help astronomers identify Earth-like planets in the "habitable zone," the orbital distance "sweet-spot" where water exists as a liquid.

Better Precision with a Laser

The radial velocity method works by measuring how exoplanet gravity changes the light emitted from its star. As exoplanets circle a star, their gravitation tugs at the star changing the speed with which it moves toward or away from Earth by a small amount. The star speeds up slightly as it approaches Earth, with each light wave taking a fraction of a second less time to arrive than the wave before it. To an observer on Earth, the crests of these waves look closer together than they should, so they appear to have a higher frequency and look bluer. As the star recedes, the crests move further apart and the frequencies seem lower and redder.

This motion-based frequency change is known as the Doppler shift. Astronomers measure it by capturing the spectrum of a star on the pixels of a digital camera and watching how it changes over time.

Today's best spectrographs are only capable of measuring Doppler shifts caused by velocity changes of 1 meter per second or more. Only large gas giants or "super-earths" close to their host stars have enough gravity to cause those changes.

The new astro-comb Li, Phillips and their colleagues are developing, however, will be able to detect Doppler shifts as small as 10 centimeters per second -- small enough to find habitable zone Earth-like planets, even from hundreds of light years away.

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Rediscovering Venus to find faraway Earths: Measuring gravitational pull of a planet should speed search

ASTRO-PHYSICS TELESCOPE
PUTTING IT TOGETHER - NO INSTRUCTIONS.

By: Ricky Carva

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ASTRO-PHYSICS TELESCOPE - Video

Autumn is under way in the Northern Hemisphere, and if you are an avid sky gazer you just might have noticed signs of the season's change.

Many of the striking star groups and our beautiful Milky Way galaxy, which made for great stargazing on balmy summer evenings, are still visible in the western sky. But the appearance now of the brilliant star Capella ascending above the northeast horizon in the evening hours is a promise of the chillier nights to come. And indeed, in just another few weeks the constellation Orion and his neighbors will be dominating the evening skies, reminding us of the approaching winter season.

Still very well-placed in the night sky is the "Summer Triangle," a roughly isosceles figure composed of three first-magnitude stars, Vega, Altair and Deneb. Many have asked me over the years why it is called it the "summer" triangle since its nearly overhead during the late-evening hours as summer transitions into fall. But during the summer months the Triangle is visible all night from dusk to dawn, whereas during autumn, as the evenings grow colder, this configuration sinks lower and lower in the west. [The Brightest Stars in the Sky]

Watery stars in the sky

During the mid and late-evening hours, the stars of the autumn season cover much of the eastern and southern parts of the night sky. In fact, this whole area has been called the "Celestial Sea," because many of the constellations have an association with water.

For example, looking toward the south-southeast is one member of this watery fraternity; the only one whose name is attached to a popular song: "Aquarius." And yet how many who have heard the song know what the constellation Aquarius really is. This zodiacal star pattern traditionally represents a man holding a water jar (marked by an inverted Y-shaped group of four stars), which is spilling a vaguely marked stream of water southward into the mouth of another constellation: Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish.

Across southern Canada, the northern United States and much of Europe, the stars that make up Piscis Austrinus usually cannot be seen. Although above the horizon, they are too low to penetrate the horizon haze. At more southerly latitudes these stars are much higher up in the sky, though still quite dim.

The lonely star of autumn

The main star in Piscis Austrinus is all the more conspicuous: silvery-white Fomalhaut, ranked 18th brightest star in the sky and the only first-magnitude star in the whole collection of watery constellations. Indeed, Fomalhaut is the only true first magnitude star of autumn. Fomalhaut, somewhat isolated, lies in an empty region of the autumn skies, and is sometimes referred to as "The Solitary One." It can be identified by extending a line along the western (right) side of the Great Square of Pegasus about three times its own length.

It is often described in various observing books as "reddish," though it is probable that the effects of our atmosphere are responsible for this impression, as this star is always seen at a low altitude for northern observers. Fomalhaut is Arabic for "mouth of the fish." It lies at a distance of 25 light-years, a star approximately twice the diameter of the sun and 19 times more luminous.

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The Stars of Autumn's Night Sky: What to Look For

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Newswise San Francisco, September 15, 2014 For patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, the combination of chemotherapy and stereotactic ablative radiation (SABR) may be a promising treatment option, ultimately allowing them to undergo surgery that may not otherwise be an option, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncologys (ASTROs) 56th Annual Meeting.

Surgery is the only potentially curative therapy for individuals with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), the most common type of pancreatic cancer. However, pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, making surgical removal of the tumor or the organ challenging, if not impossible. In addition, many patients with locally-advanced pancreatic cancer may have microscopic spread of the disease to other parts of the body.

Currently, there is no standard of care for treating patients with pancreatic cancer for whom surgery is not an option. Chemotherapy plays an important role in addressing microscopic disease. Stereotactic ablative radiation (SABR), with its shorter treatment times and precision that lowers the risk of damage to normal cells, is a promising treatment modality for patients with locally advanced PDA.

This prospective, single-arm, phase II clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of induction chemotherapy followed by SABR in 34 patients who had biopsy-proven PDA. Eighteen patients had borderline resectable PDA (the cancer was primarily located within the pancreas), and 16 patients had locally advanced PDA (the cancer had spread into nearby blood vessels). The average patient age was 71, and 56 percent of the patients were women.

Induction chemotherapy, consisting of gemcitabine and capecitabine, was administered over four, 21-day cycles to 31 of the 34 (91 percent) of the patients. Three of the patients did not complete chemotherapyone died after consent but prior to chemotherapy; one died during chemotherapy because of an arterial occlusion; and one had a myocardial infarction prior to completion of the four courses of chemotherapy.

As evidenced by CT scan, the cancer did not grow or spread in all 31 patients who completed chemotherapy, thus all patients received three SABR treatments of 36 Gy each, including a 2mm expansion around the gross tumor. Four weeks following SABR, radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists and medical oncologists made a multidisciplinary decision as to whether each patients tumor could then be surgically removed.

Of the 31 patients, 12 (40 percent) proceeded to pancreaticoduodenectomy (commonly referred to as the Whipple procedure, which removes the head of the pancreas, part of the small intestine, the gallbladder, the end of the common bile duct and sometimes a portion of the stomach). Ninety percent of patients who had surgery (11) had no local disease after surgery.

Ultimately, for this patient population, the findings translate to approximately 90 percent chance of local disease control at 1 year, and >20 months free of any disease recurrence. This is a promising treatment option that may prove not only to be more effective than chemotherapy alone prior to surgery, it may also be better than chemotherapy and standard radiation, said lead study author Kimmen Quan, MD, a radiation oncologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Patients tolerated the chemotherapy and SABR regimen quite well, with excellent quality of life during treatment. These results appear to translate into better control of disease in the pancreatic region and a longer freedom from disease recurrence. This combination should be considered for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, which is still treatable disease, and could potentially improve survival in this patient population.

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Chemotherapy and Stereotactic Ablative Radiation (SABR) Consecutively May Be Promising Treatment Option for Patients ...

Mg Triplet Solar Spectrum - Lhires III, NEX-6
Sun Mg Triplet spectrum with Shelyak Instruments Lhires III and Sony NEX-6 camera. Astro-Physics Mach1 GoTo mount tracking the Sun. Spectrum video at http://...

By: David Haworth

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Mg Triplet Solar Spectrum - Lhires III, NEX-6 - Video

Doctors from Leading Cancer Center Will Discuss Firsthand Experience with MRIdian's Adaptive and Soft-Tissue Tracking Capabilities

CLEVELAND - ViewRay, a privately held medical device company, announced today that it will showcase its MRIdian (me-rid-i-an) system, the world's first and only MRI-guided radiation therapy system, at the 56(th) Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) being held September 14-17, 2014 in San Francisco. With ViewRay's recent announcements of the world's first on-table adaptive radiation therapy treatment at Siteman Cancer Center and the first patient treated at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Center using soft-tissue tracking, a high level of interest is anticipated around MRI-guided radiation therapy at this year's meeting. A number of clinical presentations will be focused on experience with the MRIdian system in the ASTRO-sponsored Scientific Sessions and in the company's booth, including user experience with MRIdian's adaptive and soft-tissue tracking capabilities.

"Clinicians have been waiting for years for an integrated system that can provide continuous soft-tissue imaging during treatment so they can see the dose delivered and adapt to changes and movement in their patients' anatomy in real-time," said Chris A. Raanes, ViewRay president and CEO. "The fact that this dream is now a reality with the MRIdian system is a huge step forward for doctors and their patients. With some of the first users presenting on their experience at this year's meeting, we expect a great deal of discussion and interest in MRIdian."

Of the various presentations featuring the MRIdian system during ASTRO, one was awarded a "Best of ASTRO" designation by the organization and will be given on Tuesday, September 16 during the Physics Scientific Session on MRI Guided Radiation Therapy beginning at 4:45 p.m. PDT. The talk, titled "The Dawn of a New Era: First Ever MR-IGRT Treatments - Initial Experiences and Future Implications" will be given by Sasa Mutic, Ph.D., Director of Medical Physics at Washington University. For a list of other Scientific Session talks that will focus on the MRIdian system please visit: http://www.viewray.com/astro_2014.htm.

The company will be exhibiting at booth 416 where attendees can also hear about clinical experiences and patient workflow during presentations by a number of clinician users of the MRIdian system. Presentations will take place at various times from Sunday, September 14 through Tuesday, September 16, with a detailed schedule available here. Speakers include Rojano Kashani, Ph.D., medical physicist, and Jeffrey Olsen, M.D., treating physician of the first patient treated with on-table adaptive radiation therapy at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University in St. Louis. Both presenters will discuss their experience with MRI-guided radiation therapy and the clinical impact of adaptive therapy.

Additionally, visitors to the company's booth can receive a treatment planning demonstration and view plan comparisons to see the quality of MRIdian's soft-tissue imaging and understand the value it can provide in adaptive treatment planning.

About ViewRay ViewRay Incorporated of Cleveland, Ohio, is a privately held medical device company developing advanced radiation therapy technology for the treatment of cancer. The MRIdian system provides continuous soft-tissue imaging during treatment, using MRI-guided radiotherapy, so that clinicians are able to see where the actual radiation dose is being delivered and adapt to changes in the patient's anatomy. For more information, visit http://www.viewray.com.

ViewRay and MRIdian are trademarks of ViewRay Incorporated.

ViewRay acknowledges the contribution of the State of Ohio, Department of Development and Third Frontier Commission, which provided funding in support of the MRI Technology Enabling Expansion of MRI into Radiotherapy Guidance Project.

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Newswise San Francisco, September 15, 2014A comparison of five-year sexual function outcomes, as reported by patients treated with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) versus combination EBRT plus brachytherapy, indicates that the utilization of vessel-sparing radiation therapy makes cure possible without compromising long-term sexual function, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncologys (ASTROs) 56th Annual Meeting.

The study examined the patient-reported outcomes of 91 men with prostate cancer who received MRI-guided, vessel-sparing radiation at University of Michigan Providence Cancer Institute. The vessel-sparing radiation technique limits the amount of radiation to critical erectile tissues using MRI scans to identify the blood vessels responsible for erections. When radiation dose is limited to these critical structures, the risk of erectile dysfunction is lowered.

Of the 91 patients studied, all patients received EBRT. Forty-two of the patients received only EBRT (>77.8Gy), and 49 patients received EBRT plus brachytherapy, the implantation of radioactive seeds near the prostate. The combination patients received brachytherapy in the form of an I-125 permanent prostate implant. None of the patients received androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).

Sexual function at baseline, two years and five years post-therapy was evaluated via patient reported outcomes using two scales the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) scale and a simple, three-item questionnaire that asked patients to indicate which applied to them: 1) I am able to be sexually active without aids or medications; 2) I am able to be sexually active with aids or medications; or 3) I am not able to be sexually active.

The three-question scale was used in addition to the IIEF, which validates erection quality by sexual performance with a partner, because many men were not sexually active with a partner, despite their ability to be active with a partner. Patient-reported outcome on sexual performance according to the IIEF was lower than the outcome reported according to the three-question scale. The average two-year follow-up IIEF scores for EBRT patients and combination therapy patients were 16.5 and 20.8, respectively. The average five-year follow-up IIEF scores for EBRT patients and combination therapy patients were 15.4 and 16.9, respectively.

According to the three-question scale, erectile function was remarkably preserved using MRI-planned vessel-sparing treatment, even in patients who received combination therapy: 78.6 percent of patients who received EBRT (33 of 42) and 91.8 percent of patients who received combination therapy (45 of 49) reported the ability to be sexually active with or without aids at five years post-treatment.

In the past, men with prostate cancer expected to pay a high toll in loss of quality of life to achieve cure and were willing to accept that as necessary, said lead study author Patrick W. McLaughlin, MD, director of radiation oncology at University of Michigan Providence Cancer Institute in Novi, Mich. This study makes it clear that even with combination radiation protocols, which are capable of curing the majority of prostate cancers more than 90 percent of the time, avoidance of critical adjacent tissues, such as vessel-sparing, makes cure and quality of life an achievable goal for many men.

The abstract, Comparison of External Beam and Combination Therapy for Prostate Cancer: Patient Reported Outcomes of Sexual Function with 5-Year Follow-up will be presented in detail during a scientific session at ASTROs 56th Annual Meeting at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time on Monday, September 15, 2014. To speak with Dr. McLaughlin, please call Michelle Kirkwood on September 14 17, 2014, in the ASTRO Press Office at the Moscone Center in San Francisco at 415-978-3503 or 415-978-3504, or email michellek@astro.org.

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Newswise San Francisco, September 16, 2014 Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) survivors who never smoked or who are former smokers at the time of diagnosis have a lower risk of developing secondary primary lung cancers (SPLC) compared to those who are current smokers, suggesting that increased tobacco exposure is associated with a higher risk of SPLC, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncologys (ASTROs) 56th Annual Meeting.

The analysis studied the association between patients smoking histories and their risks of developing SPLC, which is defined as a new lung cancer unrelated to the initial tumor based on histology and location in the lung.

The study analyzed 1,484 patients (372 current smokers, 1,014 former smokers and 98 never smokers) who underwent surgery, with or without adjuvant chemotherapy or radiation therapy, for stage I-IIIA NSCLC at Duke University Medical Center between 1995 and 2008. Baseline covariates and oncologic outcomes including local control (LC), development of distant metastases (DM), overall survival (OS) and rates of SPLC were assessed. SPLC were distinguished from metastases based on histologic evaluation supplemented with clinical presentation, including the anatomic site and chronological onset of diagnosis. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated with 95 percent confidence intervals, and multivariate analysis (MVA) were performed using a Cox regression model.

The study found that five years after the initial diagnosis, current smokers were more likely to develop SPLC. The five-year incidence of SPLC was 13 percent for current smokers, seven percent for former smokers, and zero percent for patients who had never smoked. In the follow-up period, only one patient who had never smoked developed an SPLC, seven years after surgery for the first cancer. Furthermore, when restricting the analysis to continuing smokers with pack-years (PY) as a continuous variable, the risk of SPLC increased with the number of years of tobacco exposure, corresponding to an 8 percent increased risk per 10 PY.

For all patients, there were no differences in LC or DM based on smoking status. When comparing patients who were current smokers to those who had never smoked or had quit smoking more than five years prior to surgery, OS was significantly worse for current smokers.

In conducting the study, which is one of the largest of its kind, we were particularly interested in how smoking history related to the risk of developing a second lung cancer, said John Michael Boyle, MD, lead author of the study and a radiation oncology resident at the Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, N.C. While we believed those who have never smoked would have a low risk of developing a second lung cancer, which was confirmed, we were encouraged to find that smoking cessation led to a lower risk of developing a second lung cancer and overall survival rates similar to nonsmokers. These findings confirm that smoking cessation is crucial and should be an integral component of patient care for patients without a prior cancer diagnosis as well as for cancer survivors.

The abstract, Tobacco Use and Secondary Lung Malignancies after Surgery for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, will be presented in detail during a scientific session at ASTROs 56th Annual Meeting at 2:45 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, September 16, 2014. To speak with Dr. Boyle, please call Michelle Kirkwood on September 14 17, 2014, in the ASTRO Press Office at the Moscone Center in San Francisco at 415-978-3503 or 415-978-3504, or email michellek@astro.org.

ASTROs 56th Annual Meeting, to be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, September 14-17, 2014, is the nations premier scientific meeting in radiation oncology. The 2014 Annual Meeting is expected to attract more than 11,000 attendees including oncologists from all disciplines, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists, radiation oncology nurses and nurse practitioners, biologists, physician assistants, practice administrators, industry representatives and other health care professionals from around the world. Led by ASTRO President Bruce G. Haffty, MD, FASTRO, a radiation oncologist specializing in breast cancer, the theme of the 2014 Meeting is Targeting Cancer: Technology and Biology, and the Presidential Symposium, Local-regional Management of Breast Cancer: A Changing Paradigm, will feature Jay R. Harris, MD, FASTRO, and Thomas A. Buchholz, MD, FASTRO, to highlight recent practice-changing, landmark studies and current developments in the local-regional management of breast cancer. ASTROs four-day scientific meeting includes presentation of up to four plenary papers, 360 oral presentations, 1,862 posters and 144 digital posters in more than 50 educational sessions and scientific panels for 20 disease-site tracks. Three keynote speakers will address a range of topics including oncologic imaging, biology and targeting in oncology, and human error and safety concerns: Hedvig Hricak, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Radiology and the Carroll and Milton Petrie Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, DSc (hon), Professor Emeritus and the David A. Wood Distinguished Professor of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research of the University of California at San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Sidney Dekker, PhD, MA, MSc, Professor and Director of the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

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Newswise San Francisco, September 14, 2014The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) are partnering to launch and support a national registry for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treatments. The SRS patient registry will define national patterns of care in radiosurgery, with an eye to improving health care outcomes, supporting informed decision making and potentially lowering the cost-of-care for patients. The registry project will gather data from 30 diverse, high-volume sites with data specific to stereotactic radiosurgery during the next three years. The registry will log de-identified SRS treatment information of thousands of patients affected by brain metastases, benign brain tumors and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs).

AANS and ASTRO have begun a national prospective radiosurgical registry. The registry underscores the commitment by AANS and ASTRO to enhancing quality care for our patients. It also provides new opportunities for achieving major advances in the management of patients with complex problems such as brain tumors, vascular malformations and functional disorders, which is why the Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation (NREF) is also providing support, commented Jason Sheehan, MD, PhD, FAANS, Harrison Distinguished Professor and vice-chair of Neurological Surgery at the University of Virginia.

ASTRO Health Policy Council Chair and a radiation oncologist at the University of Colorado, Denver, Brian Kavanagh, MD, MPH, added, ASTRO is excited to partner with AANS for this important project. Radiosurgery is one of the most important, high-value services we can provide to a wide-range of patients for an assortment of benign and malignant cancers. The registry will give us big data that we can use to refine our current technical and patient selection guidelines with the nuanced observations that can only be derived from large patient cohorts who are followed prospectively in a registry platform.

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a minimally invasive approach utilizing imaging guidance and stereotactic principles to deliver radiation to targeted cells within the body, and it has become an important part of the neurosurgical resources for the treatment of brain metastases, benign brain tumors and arteriovenous malformations.

ASTRO and AANS will lead the Scientific Advisory Committee charged with providing strategic oversight for the registry, including but not limited to identifying and approving contributing sites that will participate; developing the plan for data collection; managing the data collection issues; developing plans for data analysis and managing data analysis issues; review and analysis of statistical reports; development of policies and procedures for responding to requests for access to registry data; and for review and approval of the publication or public presentation of data, results or conclusions resulting from the project.

Analysis of the de-identified patient data will be scientifically published, and the fully de-identified data elements will subsequently be made available in the public domain. This transparency is important to the registry and will likely stimulate secondary publications beyond what is published by the Scientific Advisory Committee.

Major sponsorship for the project has been provided by BrainLAB. Additional sponsors are being sought to support the long-term efforts and expansion of the registry.

ABOUT AANS Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS is a scientific and educational association with more than 8,500 members worldwide. The AANS is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to the public. All active members of the AANS are certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Neurosurgery) of Canada or the Mexican Council of Neurological Surgery, AC. Neurological surgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the entire nervous system, including the spinal column, spinal cord, brain and peripheral nerves. To learn more, visit http://www.aans.org.

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Newswise ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. (September 15, 2014) The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) are partnering to launch and support a national registry for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treatments. The SRS patient registry will define national patterns of care in radiosurgery, with an eye to improving health care outcomes, supporting informed decision making and potentially lowering the cost-of-care delivery to patients. The registry project will gather data from 30 diverse, high-volume sites with data specific to stereotactic radiosurgery during the next three years. The registry will log de-identified SRS treatment information of thousands of patients affected by brain metastases, benign brain tumors and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs).

AANS and ASTRO, along with corporate supporter Brainlab, have begun a national prospective radiosurgical registry. The registry, managed by Neuropoint Alliance (NPA), underscores the commitment by AANS, ASTRO and Brainlab to enhancing quality care for our patients. It also provides new opportunities for achieving major advances in the management of patients with complex problems such as brain tumors, vascular malformations and functional disorders, which is why the Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation (NREF) is also providing support, commented Jason Sheehan, MD, PhD, FAANS, Harrison Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair of Neurological Surgery at the University of Virginia.

ASTRO Health Policy Council Chair and a radiation oncologist at the University of Colorado, Denver, Brian Kavanagh, MD, MPH, added, ASTRO is excited to partner with AANS for this important project. Radiosurgery is one of the most important, high-value services we can provide to a wide-range of patients for an assortment of benign and malignant cancers. The registry will give us big data that we can use to refine our current technical and patient selection guidelines with the nuanced observations that can only be derived from large patient cohorts who are followed prospectively in a registry platform.

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a minimally invasive approach utilizing imaging guidance and stereotactic principles to deliver radiation to targeted cells within the body, and it has become an important part of the neurosurgical resources for the treatment of brain metastases, benign brain tumors and arteriovenous malformations.

ASTRO is providing both financial and professional support for the registry. ASTRO and AANS will lead the Scientific Advisory Committee charged with providing strategic oversight for the registry, including but not limited to: identifying and approving contributing sites that will participate; developing the plan for data collection; managing the data collection issues; developing plans for data analysis and managing data analysis issues; review and analysis of statistical reports; development of policies and procedures for responding to requests for access to registry data; and for review & approval of the publication or public presentation of data, results or conclusions resulting from the project.

Analysis of the de-identified patient data will be scientifically published, and the fully de-identified data elements will subsequently be made available in the public domain. This transparency is important to the registry and will likely stimulate secondary publications beyond what is published by the Scientific Advisory Committee. Storage, analysis and scientific supervision of the data are managed independently from Brainlab to ensure impartiality of the data.

Major sponsorship for the project has been provided by Brainlab. Other med- and biotech companies are being sought for additional sponsorship to support the long-term efforts and expansion of the registry.

About AANS Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with more than 8,500 members worldwide. The AANS is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to the public. All active members of the AANS are certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Neurosurgery) of Canada or the Mexican Council of Neurological Surgery, AC. Neurological surgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the entire nervous system, including the spinal column, spinal cord, brain and peripheral nerves. To learn more, visit http://www.aans.org

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Newswise San Francisco, September 14, 2014Radiation therapy (RT) alone is as effective in decreasing swallowing complications experienced by advanced esophageal cancer patients as RT combined with chemotherapy, thus allowing patients to forgo chemotherapy, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncologys (ASTROs) 56th Annual Meeting.

In this international study that included sites in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom, researchers assessed the use of palliative chemotherapy combined with RT, or chemoradiotherapy (CRT), to provide relief from dysphagia. Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, is a common complication of advanced esophageal cancer and has been shown to be relieved with RT. The trial evaluated the effectiveness of RT alone versus CRT through patient-reported questionnaires that measured swallowing ability and quality of life, and through clinician-reported questionnaires that measured potential side effects and adverse events that affected the entire body.

A total of 220 patients were randomized to receive a course of palliative RT: 115 patients in Australia and New Zealand received 35 Gy in 15 fractions, and 105 patients in Canada and the United Kingdom received 30 Gy in 10 fractions. Of those patients, 109 received only RT, and 111 received concomitant CRT including Cisplatin and 5FU.

Dysphagia was measured using the Mellow scoring system, which measures swallowing on a scale of 0 to 5 based on the patients ability to swallow liquids or solids. Side effects were measured by clinicians using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v2, and quality of life was evaluated using two patient questionnairesEORTC QLQ30 and oesophagus module (OES-18). The primary end point was the proportion of patients with improved dysphagia as measured at week 9 and maintained until week 13.

Of the patients who received RT alone, 67.89 percent of patients reported a more favorable dysphagia response (meaning decreased pain at any point) compared to 73.87 percent of patients who received CRT and showed a positive dysphagia response (p=0.343).

Gastrointestinal side effects were reported in the CRT patients, including nausea (p=0.0019) and vomiting (p=0.0072). The median survival was 203 days for patients who received RT alone and 210 days for patients who had CRT, demonstrating comparable survival prognosis for both groups.

This study was the largest, randomized, phase three trial of advanced esophageal cancer and was a significant undertaking for a palliative care trial, namely where the emphasis was on the best, yet simplest and least toxic treatment to alleviate pain, said lead author Michael Penniment, MBBS, MBA, FRANZCR, director of radiation oncology at Royal Adelaide Hospital in South Australia and the director of radiation oncology at Alan Walker Cancer Care Centre in Darwin, Australia. It is common for chemotherapy to be prescribed for patients with advanced esophageal cancer, and this is based on the standard use of CRT in people with less advanced disease. However, some clinicians believe no treatment should be offered, assuming treatment is futile and potentially toxic. These results will allow us to simplify the treatment for patients who cannot be cured but who can expect an improvement in swallowing and quality of life as a result of RT alone; and these patients can be spared the extra toxicity and cost of chemotherapy.

The abstract, Best Practice in Advanced Oesophageal Cancer: A Report on TROG 03.01 NCIC CTG ES.2 Multinational Phase III Study in Advanced Oesophageal Cancer (OC) Comparing Quality of Life (QoL) and Palliation of Dysphagia in Patients Treated with Radiotherapy (RT) or Chemo-Radiotherapy (CRT), will be presented in detail during a scientific session at ASTROs 56th Annual Meeting at 3:15 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday, September 14, 2014. To speak with Dr. Penniment, please call Michelle Kirkwood on September 14 17, 2014, in the ASTRO Press Office at the Moscone Center in San Francisco Center at 415-978-3503 or 415-978-3504, or email michellek@astro.org.

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Newswise San Francisco, September 14, 2014Patients with stage I and II Hodgkins Disease who receive consolidated radiation therapy (RT) have a higher 10-year survival rate of 84 percent, compared to 76 percent for patients who did not receive RT; and, the data also shows a decrease in utilization of RT, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncologys (ASTROs) 56th Annual Meeting.

Researchers evaluated clinical features and survival outcomes among 41,502 patients diagnosed with stage I and II Hodgkins Disease from 1998 to 2011 from a prospectively collected databasethe National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), which is comprised of cases from 1,500 sites and represents >75 percent of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. The average patient age was 37 (range: 18 90), with a median follow-up of 7.5 years. The association between RT use, co-variables and outcome were assessed in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Multi-agent chemotherapy was administered to 96 percent (39,842) of the patients, and 49 percent (20,441) of patients received a median RT dose of 30.6 Gy. The 10-year overall survival of the entire group was 80.8 percent, with patients receiving RT having a statistically significant improved overall survival rate at 10 years, when compared to those not receiving RT (84.4 percent vs. 76.4 percent; p<0.00001). Additionally, the omission of RT was related to higher rates of salvage transplant procedures performed.

Despite this benefit, the utilization of RT for patients with early-stage Hodgkins Disease decreased at the study sites from 56 percent to 41 percent between 1998 and 2011; and in 88.4 percent of the patients, the physician-reported reason given for not administering RT was that it was not part of the planned initial treatment strategy. The research also indicated that RT use was associated with younger patients (40 years), who are in a higher socioeconomic status, who had access to health insurance, and who received treatment at comprehensive cancer centers (all p<0.0001).

Multiple prospective, randomized trials have shown a significant improvement in disease control with the addition of RT, however previous trials were limited by low patient numbers and limited follow-up and thus, were unable to demonstrate an overall survival benefit, said lead study author Rahul R. Parikh, MD, a radiation oncologist at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and an Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This is the largest dataset in this patient population to demonstrate a survival benefit with the addition of RT. Given that the utilization of RT was associated with younger age, insurance status, higher socioeconomic status, and treatment at comprehensive cancer centers, we have highlighted ongoing disparities in Hodgkins Disease treatment and it is important that we recognize these findings as potential barriers to care. Given the survival benefit demonstrated in this study, radiotherapy should be included in the combined modality approach of multi-agent chemotherapy followed by consolidation RT in order to maintain high overall survival rates for this curable disease.

The abstract, Early-Stage Hodgkin's Disease: The Utilization of Radiation Therapy and Its Impact on Overall Survival, will be presented in detail during a scientific session at ASTROs 56th Annual Meeting at 3:15 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday, September 14, 2014. To speak with Dr. Parikh, please call Michelle Kirkwood on September 14 17, 2014, in the ASTRO Press Office at the Moscone Center in San Francisco at 415-978-3503 or 415-978-3504, or email michellek@astro.org.

ASTROs 56th Annual Meeting, to be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, September 14-17, 2014, is the nations premier scientific meeting in radiation oncology. The 2014 Annual Meeting is expected to attract more than 11,000 attendees including oncologists from all disciplines, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists, radiation oncology nurses and nurse practitioners, biologists, physician assistants, practice administrators, industry representatives and other health care professionals from around the world. Led by ASTRO President Bruce G. Haffty, MD, FASTRO, a radiation oncologist specializing in breast cancer, the theme of the 2014 Meeting is Targeting Cancer: Technology and Biology, and the Presidential Symposium, Local-regional Management of Breast Cancer: A Changing Paradigm, will feature Jay R. Harris, MD, FASTRO, and Thomas A. Buchholz, MD, FASTRO, to highlight recent practice-changing, landmark studies and current developments in the local-regional management of breast cancer. ASTROs four-day scientific meeting includes presentation of up to four plenary papers, 360 oral presentations, 1,862 posters and 144 digital posters in more than 50 educational sessions and scientific panels for 20 disease-site tracks. Three keynote speakers will address a range of topics including oncologic imaging, biology and targeting in oncology, and human error and safety concerns: Hedvig Hricak, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Radiology and the Carroll and Milton Petrie Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, DSc (hon), Professor Emeritus and the David A. Wood Distinguished Professor of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research of the University of California at San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Sidney Dekker, PhD, MA, MSc, Professor and Director of the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

ABOUT ASTRO ASTRO is the premier radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals that specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through professional education and training, support for clinical practice and health policy standards, advancement of science and research, and advocacy. ASTRO publishes two medical journals, International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (www.redjournal.org) and Practical Radiation Oncology (www.practicalradonc.org); developed and maintains an extensive patient website, http://www.rtanswers.org; and created the Radiation Oncology Institute (www.roinstitute.org), a non-profit foundation to support research and education efforts around the world that enhance and confirm the critical role of radiation therapy in improving cancer treatment. To learn more about ASTRO, visit http://www.astro.org. ###

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Improved Survival Shown in Early-Stage Hodgkin's Disease Patients Who Receive Radiation Therapy

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - September 15, 2014) - Patients with inoperable, early-stage lung cancer who receive stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) have a five-year survival rate of 40 percent, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO's) 56th Annual Meeting. Such a positive survival rate is encouraging considering that historically conventional RT resulted in poor tumor control for patients with inoperable lung cancer. This study is an update of RTOG 0236, originally published in 2010[1], and also conducted by the original researchers to evaluate tumor control rates and side effects for patients at five years post-treatment.

RTOG 0236 was a Phase II North American multicenter trial from May 2004 until October 2006 of patients age 18 and older with biopsy-proven peripheral T1-T2 N0M0 non-small cell lung cancer (early stage with no lymph node involvement or metastases). Patients in the study all had medical conditions that precluded them from surgery, so they received SBRT, a specialized type of external beam therapy that usesfocused radiation beams at a tumor using detailed imaging. SBRT delivers high doses of radiation to the tumor in a decreased amount of treatment time, compared to standard RT, while minimizing exposure to surrounding healthy organs. SBRT appeared to improve tumor control, as suggested by the initial study results for RTOG 0236[2].

A total of 59 patients were accrued for the study, and 55 were evaluable (44 patients with T1 tumors and 11 patients with T2 tumors). Patients each received three fractions of 18 Gy (54 Gy total) of SBRT, and treatment lasted between one-and-a-half to two weeks.

Researchers evaluated local control, which is the rate of reoccurrence of the cancer at the site of origin, as well as disease-free survival, overall survival and toxicity (side effects). Median follow-up was four years (7.2 years for surviving patients). At five years, the rates for disease-free and overall survival were 26 percent and 40 percent, respectively, with a median overall survival of four years.

Only four patients had recurrences at the primary tumor site, resulting in an estimated five-year primary tumor failure rate of seven percent (range, 1.8 to 4.8 years after SBRT). Nine additional patients had recurrence within the involved lobe (range, 0.1 to 5.9 years after SBRT), resulting in a five-year primary tumor and involved lobe (local) failure rate of 20 percent.

The five-year local-regional failure rate was 38 percent, of which seven patients experienced a spread of the cancer to nearby lymph nodes or organs (range, 2.8 to 5.2 years after SBRT). Fifteen patients had disseminated recurrence (throughout the lung), thus the five-year disseminated failure rate was 31 percent. Treatment-related grade three and grade four side effects were reported in 15 patients and in two patients, respectively. No grade five adverse events were reported.

"Historically, when treating early lung cancer with radiotherapy, progression at the site of the primary tumor was the most common failure resulting in suffering and death," said lead study author Robert Timmerman, MD, professor and vice chair of the department of radiation oncology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "The initial results of RTOG 0236 showed very good tumor control; however, many physicians were concerned that treatment-related toxicity would eventually appear, so SBRT has not seen wide-spread use. This long-term analysis confirms that treated tumors did not reappear at the original site; and late toxicity, beyond what was seen in the initial report, did not appear. However, metastatic tumors continued to appear over time in untreated sites likely because those tumors were so small at initial treatment that they were not detected.These five-year results demonstrate positive tumor control and disprove the misconception that short-course treatment will result in late-appearing, unacceptable toxicities."

The abstract, "Long-term Results of RTOG 0236: A Phase II Trial of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) in the Treatment of Patients with Medically Inoperable Stage I Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer," will be presented in detail during a scientific session at ASTRO's 56th Annual Meeting at 10:45 a.m. Pacific time on Monday, September 15, 2014. To speak with Dr. Timmerman, please call Michelle Kirkwood on September 14 - 17, 2014, in the ASTRO Press Office at San Francisco's Moscone Center at 415-978-3503 or415-978-3504, or email michellek@astro.org.

ASTRO's 56th Annual Meeting, to be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, September 14-17, 2014, is the nation's premier scientific meeting in radiation oncology. The 2014 Annual Meeting is expected to attract more than 11,000 attendees including oncologists from all disciplines, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists, radiation oncology nurses and nurse practitioners, biologists, physician assistants, practice administrators, industry representatives and other health care professionals from around the world. Led by ASTRO President Bruce G. Haffty, MD, FASTRO, a radiation oncologist specializing in breast cancer, the theme of the 2014 Meeting is "Targeting Cancer: Technology and Biology," and the Presidential Symposium, "Local-regional Management of Breast Cancer: A Changing Paradigm," will feature Jay R. Harris, MD, FASTRO, and Thomas A. Buchholz, MD, FASTRO, to highlight recent practice-changing, landmark studies and current developments in the local-regional management of breast cancer. ASTRO's four-day scientific meeting includes presentation of up to four plenary papers, 360 oral presentations, 1,862 posters and 144 digital posters in more than 50 educational sessions and scientific panels for 20 disease-site tracks. Three keynote speakers will address a range of topics including oncologic imaging, biology and targeting in oncology, and human error and safety concerns: Hedvig Hricak, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Radiology and the Carroll and Milton Petrie Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, DSc (hon), Professor Emeritus and the David A. Wood Distinguished Professor of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research of the University of California at San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Sidney Dekker, PhD, MA, MSc, Professor and Director of the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

2014 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 56th Annual Meeting News Briefing, Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 7:00 a.m. Pacific time

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Newswise San Francisco, September 15, 2014Prostate cancer patients who received hypofractionated (HPFX) radiation therapy (RT) reported that their quality of life, as well as bladder and bowel function were at similar levels before and after RT, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncologys (ASTROs) 56th Annual Meeting. Additionally, results indicate that parallel quality of life outcomes occurred between groups of patients who receive different regimens of HPFX RT.

The phase I/II trial enrolled 343 patients with low-to-intermediate risk prostate cancer at five institutions from 2002 to 2010 to study the effectiveness of HPFX RT, as well as the patients ability to tolerate the treatment. HPFX RT is radiation therapy in which the total dose of radiation is divided into large doses and administered over a shorter period of time (fewer days or weeks) than standard RT.

All of the patients received intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to the prostate and base of the seminal vesicles. IMRT is an advanced high-precision RT that uses guided imaging techniques to deliver well-defined radiation doses to a tumor or specific areas within the tumor. IMRT allows for the radiation dose to conform more precisely to the three-dimensional shape of a tumor while minimizing radiation to surrounding tissues.

Patients were divided into three groups based on dose-per-fraction schedules (the amount of radiation administered during each RT session). Researchers calculated and designed the three different HPFX regimens in hopes that each might achieve similar disease control and consistently minimal side effects for patients. Group Ones HPFX levels were 64.7 Gy total, with 22 fractions (doses) of 2.94 Gy each. Group Twos HPFX levels were 58.08 Gy total, with 16 fractions (doses) of 3.63 Gy each. Group Threes HPFX levels were 51.6 Gy total with 12 fractions (doses) of 4.3 Gy each.

Researchers evaluated the impact each treatment regimen had on the quality of life of patients, and all patients completed three quality-of-life (QOL) questionnaires at baseline and annually for up to three years post-treatment. Patient assessments measured bladder, bowel and sexual function, and included the Fox Chase Bowel/Bladder Toxicity questionnaire, the Spitzer Quality of Life Index (SQLI) questionnaire and the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire.

Analysis of patient-scored QOL bowel data at three years post-treatment revealed no significant difference in average pre- to post-treatment score changes. Additionally, there was little difference in composite QOL outcomes across the three groups. Out of a maximum score of 100, the scores were 86.3 for Group One; 87.7 for Group Two; and, and 85.4 for Group Three (p=0.469). Similarly, QOL data regarding bladder function at three years follow-up was comparable across the three groups. Out of a maximum score of 100, the scores were 79.5 for Group One; 82.5 for Group Two and 81.1 for Group Three (p=0.343).

The SQLI data, which has a range of 0-10, revealed excellent, similar three-year mean scores of 9.5 for Group One; 9.8 for Group Two and 9.5 for Group Three (p=0.188). IIEF data on sexual function also revealed no significant difference across HPFX levels at three years post-treatment when assessing erectile function (p=0.07), orgasmic function (p=0.078), sexual desire (p=0.231), intercourse satisfaction (p=0.354) and overall satisfaction (p=0.191). All measures except intercourse satisfaction were significantly worse at three years when compared to baseline for all three treatment groups.

These results will significantly contribute to the continued understanding of hypofractionation in the setting of prostate cancer, said lead author Jeffrey V. Brower MD, PhD, a radiation oncology resident at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. We were pleased by the overall minimal changes from baseline noted in the study participants following hypofractionated radiation. The findings of non-statistically significant differences noted when comparing hypofractionation regimens was as anticipated, as much work was done to calculate equivalent doses and to predict late toxicities. Specifically, with regard to patient-reported quality of life outcomes, our research can assist in a continued paradigm shift concerning the role of hypofractionation in the treatment of prostate cancer, resulting in shorter treatment times and improved quality of life for our patients.

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Prostate Cancer Patients Who Receive Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy Report Consistent Quality of Life Before and ...