Diacor News and Opinion

Diacor has released its 2012 Events Schedule. Among the different events Diacor will be attending are the ESTRO 31 Meeting, the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists Annual Meeting, and the ASTRO (American Society for Radiation Oncology) Meeting. We look forward to attending each of these events and hope each of you will stop by and meet with us. To view our full schedule of events, please click here.

Diacor recently attended the 2011 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) meeting held in Miami, Florida from October 2-6. Diacor displayed the Zephyr hdr and the Zephyr xl which were met with great reception. We thank everyone who stopped by and made the meeting such a success! Here are some pictures of our booth from the conference:

 

 

Diacor will be attending the 53rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), held this year in Miami Florida, October 2-6. More than 11,000 attendees are expected, including oncologists, oncology nurses, radiation therapists, biologists, and other cancer researchers. We will be there displaying both the Zephyr xl and the Zephyr hdr, so please stop by and take a look at our products. We hope to see you there!

For more information about ASTRO, please click here.

 

The American Society for Radiation Oncology has recently published a paper on IMRT safety. IMRT, or intensely modulated radiation therapy, has been a technique used the last few decades, which provides a safe and effective delivery of radiation. However, it also requires much more time and resources from cancer clinics to be performed correctly. ASTRO raises three main concerns about IMRT in their paper, the first being the staff must work together in order to improve patient safety. The second concern is to suggest standard operating procedures to provide time for quality reviews and to have quality assurance checks at key points during the process. Finally, the third concern is that delays in initiation of treatment may be necessary in order to to allow enough time for quality assurance checks and investigation of any problems discovered. For more information on this press release, please visit http://cs.astro.org/blogs.

As a friendly reminder, the US Election Day falls on November 2nd this year, during ASTRO's 52nd Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.  If you plan on attending ASTRO, please be sure to contact your state election board to get your absentee ballot.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, September 16, 2010 – Diacor’s Zephyr Patient Transport System is fast becoming an essential tool to safely and accurately move brachytherapy patients during treatment.

Released at the 51^st ASTRO meeting in November 2009, the Zephyr Patient Transport System has been evaluated and adopted by treatment facilities in Asia, Europe and North America. These facilities rely on the system to scan and treat patients in the same position and minimize the risks of applicator or needle movement.

The Zephyr Patient Transport System uses air-bearing technology to easily transfer patients laterally and longitudinally from CT couch top to patient stretcher to HDR Brachytherapy table. This minimizes changes in implant geometry during patient transfer.

“In most therapy settings, patients are moved from a CT scanner to an HDR brachytherapy setting multiple times,” says Glenn Waterman, president of Diacor. “The Zephyr system maintains consistency of treatment and seed position by minimizing patient movement during these transitions. It’s better for the patient and safer and easier for the therapist.”

“The Zephyr Patient Transport System is essential if transportation of brachytherapy patients is required for imaging and/or treatment,” says Subir Nag, MD, Director of Brachytherapy Services at Kaiser Permanente Radiation Oncology in Santa Clara, California.

Diacor will display and demonstrate the Zephyr Patient Transport System at the upcoming 52^nd Annual ASTRO Meeting, October 31 – November 4, 2010 in San Diego, California.

About Diacor

Diacor was founded with a single goal: to make radiation therapy as safe and accurate as possible. This vision continues to guide and direct new product initiatives as we tackle new challenges. We constantly work with radiation therapists and oncologists to ensure we are aware of changing needs and evolving therapeutic approaches. Ultimately, we deliver patient positioning systems, patient transfer systems and patient alignment lasers that work accurately and as expected; conduct ongoing research and development to pinpoint needs and develop valuable solutions; provide unparalleled sales and product support, today and tomorrow, and develop lasting distributor relationships that help us to better serve our customers worldwide. 

Just returning from ESTRO 29 in Barcelona, the Diacor staff is quickly changing gears and preparing for the 52nd Annual Meeting of ASTRO, held this year in beautiful San Diego, California.  Please stop by our booth, # 329, and see all of the latest from Diacor.  We'll be launching a new product within our Patient Transfer product family, so you'll want to make sure and stop by our booth!

We look forward to seeing you in San Diego!

ASTRO released a press release yesterday, noting a study in the June 1st issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, that breast cancer patients can reduce their risk of recurrence by almost 30% and increase their five-year overall survival by almost 50% with use of Postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT).  Click here to view the full press release.

Members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) created a new web site last fall for helping cancer patients and their families understand the available radiotherapy treatment options.  The site includes treatment information, statistics, dictionary of radiation therapy terms, as well as quick links for discovering additional detail.  For example, the site notes that nearly 1.5 million Americans will learn they have cancer this year and that 2/3rds of all cancer is treated with radiation. 

The site is called RTAnswers.org and looks to be a great resource for the radiation therapy community.