Hitachi Healthcare Americas Corporation has entered into a collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to conduct a clinical trial comparing outcomes and side effects of intensity-modulated proton beam therapy (IMPT) versus intensity-modulated photon therapy (IMRT) for the treatment of oropharyngeal cancer of the head and neck.

As many as 10 additional centers may become involved in the study, which will be led by Dr. Steven J. Frank, professor and deputy division head of Radiation Oncology, and Proton Center Medical Director at MD Anderson.

"We are very encouraged by this clinical trial and the support we have received," said Frank. We have treated over 7,500 patients and 2,000 of these patients with IMPT via this long-term collaboration, and this year we commemorated our 11th anniversary of treating patients with proton therapy. We are confident that by working together, we can gain greater insight on the advantages of proton therapy."

Such a trial in radiation oncology is less typical than in therapeutics, according to the statement.

The results of the study will help the company formulate further research and development in proton therapy, which is one of the major thrusts of Hitachi's Social Innovation Business, covering diagnostics, therapy and informatics.

The efforts include ultrasound, MRI systems, and particle beam oncology therapy systems, as well as services utilizing IT.

"Hitachi's partnership with MD Anderson over the past 15 years has helped drive Hitachi to become the leader in proton therapy systems,” said Masaya Watanabe, vice president and executive officer, CEO of Hitachi's Healthcare Business Unit.

In January, Hitachi pulled its Americas-based ventures into the new entity, Hitachi Healthcare America Corp.

"We are focused on the long-term future of Hitachi's Healthcare commitment in the Americas and are taking deliberate, strategic actions to improve the company's overall operations while enhancing our competitive position and future growth," senior vice president and general manager of the Healthcare Division, Hitachi America, Yasuhiko Taniguchi said at the time.

Health care is one of the four major efforts within Hitachi's Social Innovation business.

"Integrating our medical imaging operations will allow us to accelerate the design and development of cost-effective health care technology and services offerings, while continuing to provide a superior level of service and support to our customers and partners in the Americas," said Donald Broomfield, president and CEO, Hitachi Medical Systems America.

Hitachi's business moves also made news in March, 2016, when it partnered with Redien Technologies, a radiation sensor manufacturer, to work on a promising new diagnostic imaging modality called photon counting computer tomography (PCCT).

PCCT is a form of CT, but it extracts tomographic images from the measured amount of X-ray photons. CT measures the summation of the energy of X-ray photons, but PCCT can measure the energy of detected X-ray photons individually, which allows much more information to be acquired.

Additionally, last February, Hitachi and Philips agreed to collaborate to address the inability to share images rapidly across health systems.

“We wanted to address the biggest challenges health care organizations face in making their many millions of images, often stored in multivendor systems and infrastructures from various departments, rapidly available to virtually any clinician at any location within the health system,” Mark Khalil, global director of solutions marketing and strategy for enterprise imaging informatics at Philips, told HCB News at the time.