Side effects result when the tumor moves outside of the radiation field in response to normal physiologic processes such as digestion, coughing and breathing, as well as small movements by the patient, while radiation is being delivered. As a result,healthy tissue receives the intended radiation, and at the same time, the tumor fails to receive the fully prescribed radiation dose thereby compromising effectiveness of the therapy. While some side effects may resolve over time, many do not, leaving the patient with a significant impact to their quality of life.

"Calypso's Dynamic Edge Gating Technology is the next step in addressing organ motion for our patients," said Dr. Parag Parikh, assistant professor of radiation oncology at Washington University in St. Louis. "By automatically turning off the radiation beam if the target moves out of the planned location, this allows new ways to minimize the irradiation of healthy tissue, leading to better outcomes and quality of life for our patients."


In May 2010, Urology, a scientific peer-reviewed journal, published a novel study which demonstrated that patients whose radiation therapy delivery was guided by the Calypso System experienced a significant decrease in the side effects associated with prostate radiation treatment. The study, entitled "Assessing the Impact of Margin Reduction (AIM)," compared Calypso prostate radiation treatment to conventional prostate radiation treatment. Using Calypso's real-time tracking technology, physicians were able to decrease the margin of healthy tissue that surrounds the tumor target to just a few millimeters. Irradiating less healthy tissue resulted in fewer side effects. The combination of the decreased target margins demonstrated in the AIM study and the automated radiation beam response of Dynamic Edge Gating has the potential to further reduce prostate radiation therapy side effects since the radiation beam will now be enabled or disabled automatically, based on objective motion threshold data, as opposed to manual intervention by the
therapist.

In contrast to other guidance techniques, Calypso's electromagnetic technology is the only non-ionizing guidance solution to keep the treatment precisely focused on the target without adding unnecessary radiation. The Calypso System is the only commercially available real-time tracking system for radiation therapy shown to improve patient outcomes for prostate cancer.

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