Siemens Healthcare Announces Exclusive Partnership With Prowess Inc.
21 February 2008 - 1:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Plans to Integrate Treatment Planning System with Oncology
Solutions Technology CONCORD, Calif., Feb. 20
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Siemens Healthcare
(http://www.usa.siemens.com/healthcare) announces an exclusive
partnership with Prowess Inc. to develop advanced radiation
oncology treatment planning software for integration into Siemens'
linear accelerators. The combination of Prowess' unique treatment
planning system with Siemens' leading oncology solutions technology
will help provide users with one of the most effective and reliable
radiation therapy treatment solutions available in the market.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO )
This agreement authorizes Siemens Healthcare to share the basic
intellectual property of Prowess' patented Direct Aperture
Optimization (DAO) planning software, allowing Siemens to
incorporate Prowess' software into the treatment planning tools for
its linear accelerators. This, in turn, will help users to
dramatically reduce the number of segments, monitor units, and
overall treatment times. "This partnership with Prowess will
provide us the ability to deliver a solution that helps clinical
teams treat patients more efficiently by reducing treatment times,
dosage, and exposure of healthy tissues," said Holger Schmidt,
Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Healthcare, Oncology Care Systems.
"The open system architecture will enable Siemens to offer users
one of the broadest selections of treatment planning tools on the
market." "Working closely with Siemens, we are developing a joint
solution that combines Siemens' innovative oncology therapy
solutions with our market-leading treatment planning system," said
John Nguyen, CEO of Prowess. "We look forward to realizing the full
potential of this partnership and continuing to drive innovation in
the oncology field." The Prowess DAO-based Plan-to-Patient tool*
for Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART) has been clinically evaluated
and is planned to be available in the spring of 2008. The tool
works with Siemens' unique CTVision(TM) System, a SOMATOM(R) CT
Sliding Gantry on rails combined with an ARTISTE(TM) or ONCOR(TM)
Linear Accelerator. DAO enables users to make on-line plan
corrections based on actual pre-treatment CT scans taken in the
treatment room, while the patient is on the linear accelerator's
treatment table. Siemens is also working on the development of a
highly-efficient single arc radiation treatment called Cone Beam
Therapy (CBT)*. The combination of CBT with DAO-based planning
software will help improve tumor control for many disease sites,
while sparing as much healthy tissue as possible. About Siemens
Healthcare Siemens Healthcare is one of the world's largest
suppliers to the healthcare industry. The company is a renowned
medical solutions provider with core competence and innovative
strength in diagnostic and therapeutic technologies as well as in
knowledge engineering, including information technology and system
integration. With its laboratory diagnostics acquisitions, Siemens
Healthcare will be the first fully integrated diagnostics company,
bringing together imaging and lab diagnostics, therapy, and
healthcare information technology solutions, supplemented by
consulting and support services. Siemens Healthcare delivers
solutions across the entire continuum of care -- from prevention
and early detection, to diagnosis, therapy and care. The company
employs more than 49,000 people worldwide and operates in 130
countries. In the fiscal year 2007 (Sept. 30), Siemens Healthcare
reported sales of euro 9.85 billion (on a pro forma basis including
Dade Behring roughly euro 11 billion), orders of euro 10.27
billion, and group profit of euro 1.32 billion. Further information
can be found by visiting http://www.siemens.com/healthcare. About
Prowess Inc. Prowess Inc. is an international radiation cancer
treatment planning software developer based in Chico, California.
Under the direction and leadership of Mr. Nguyen, Prowess has
continued to be a pioneer in Windows-based treatment planning
systems for brachytherapy and external beam therapy. Prowess'
systems are noted for their advanced technology with an efficient
and intuitive interface. Prowess is a registered trademark of
Prowess Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Further
information can be found by visiting http://www.prowess.com/. *The
Plan to Patient tool and Cone Beam Therapy are works-in-progress,
require FDA 510(k) pre-market clearance and are presently not
available for commercial distribution.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGODATASOURCE:
Siemens Healthcare CONTACT: Tom Schaffner, +1-610-448-1477, Web
site: http://www.siemens.com/healthcare http://www.prowess.com/
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