St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital selects Hitachi to supply and install Proton Beam Therapy System
21 Febrero 2012 - 10:12AM
Business Wire
Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501/NYSE:HIT) today announced that it has
entered into an agreement with St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital to provide its proton beam therapy (PBT) system. This
next-generation technology has spot scanning capability for
treating certain forms of cancer. The agreement includes PBT system
maintenance for 10 years following completion of the systems’
installation.
The system will be installed at St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital in Memphis, TN. There will be three treatment rooms, two
with rotating gantry systems and one with a fixed horizontal beam.
The installed PBT system will be a compact design with a foot print
that is approximately 40 percent smaller than that of conventional
systems. Construction for facilities has already begun and
treatment using the proton therapy system is expected to be offered
in the fall of 2015.
Dr. William Evans, Chief Executive Officer of St. Jude
Children’s Research Hospital, said “By bringing the technology to
our campus, we will become the first center in the country offering
this cutting-edge therapy solely for the purpose of treating
children with brain tumors and other pediatric cancers. Currently,
we ensure our patients needing this therapy receive it through
collaboration with other institutions, but having the technology
available here at St. Jude will enable a new level of service and
convenience for our patients. In addition, it takes advantage of
recent advances in the technology and will allow integration with
our cutting-edge research programs.”
Tatsuro Ishizuka, Vice President and Executive Officer,
President & CEO of Power Systems Company, Hitachi, Ltd. said,
"It is an honor to have our technology recognized and to be
selected to provide our PBT system. We are especially proud of the
fact that our system has been selected by the premier pediatric
oncology hospital and will be dedicated to the treatment of
children. Hitachi pioneered proton beam therapy technology in Japan
and devoted research and development resources to improve this
technology over the past 20 years. Hitachi’s expertise in
accelerators, irradiation and control systems played a key role in
the development and refinement of the PBT system. Hitachi will
continue to contribute to improving treatment outcomes for people
with cancer by promoting PBT business globally.”
PBT is an advanced type of radiation therapy used to treat
adults and children with cancer. Protons, the atomic nucleus of
hydrogen, are accelerated to high speeds and focused to deposit
their energy in tumors. PBT has been shown to improve the quality
of life for cancer patients since patients experience less
radiation exposure to normal tissues and fewer side effects. In
most cases, adults and children can continue with their normal
daily activities while undergoing out-patient treatment.
The spot scanning technology designed for the St. Jude facility
became feasible by advancing the uniform quality beam extraction
and control technology from the accelerator which includes three
primary benefits: (1) more accurate irradiation which can reduce
the side effects to the healthy tissues surrounding the tumor
compared with conventional double scattering irradiation; (2)
patient-specific collimators and boluses are not necessary; and (3)
proton beam usage factor is high, reducing unnecessary secondary
radiation.
Since the 1990’s, interest in proton beam therapy as a form of
cancer treatment has been rapidly increasing in the U.S. Given the
growing demand for more advanced and less detrimental treatment
modalities, interest in proton therapy is on the rise, with more
and more hospitals and cancer treatment facilities venturing into
this area. In December 2007, for the first time in the U.S.,
Hitachi cleared the FDA Premarket Notification Special 510(k) for
spot scanning irradiation technology.
About St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Since opening 50 years ago, St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital has changed the way the world treats childhood cancer and
other life-threatening diseases. No family ever pays St. Jude for
the care their child receives and, for every child treated here,
thousands more have been saved worldwide through St. Jude
discoveries. The hospital has played a pivotal role in pushing U.S.
pediatric cancer survival rates from 20 to 80 percent overall, and
is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated
Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted to children. It is also a
leader in the research and treatment of blood disorders and
infectious diseases in children. St. Jude was founded by the late
entertainer Danny Thomas, who believed that no child should die in
the dawn of life. Join that mission by visiting www.stjude.org or
following us on www.facebook.com/stjude. Follow us on Twitter
@StJudeResearch.
About Hitachi
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo,
Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately
360,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2010 (ended March 31, 2011)
consolidated revenues totaled 9,315 billion yen ($112.2 billion).
Hitachi will focus more than ever on the Social Innovation
Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems,
power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation
systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated
materials and key devices that support them. For more information
on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at
www.hitachi.com.
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