Vantage Press & Media



New System Focuses Radiation on Prostate Cancer
By Peggy O'Farrell, Staff Writer

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October 27th, 2008

The technology, called the Calypso 4D Localization System, delivers radiation that kills cancerous cells, said Daniel White, a radiation oncologist with Oncology Partners Network at the InterCommunity Cancer Center in Mount Airy. The site is the first in Cincinnati to use the new Calypso system.

In the U.S., about one in six men will develop prostate cancer; one in 36 will die of the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. The prostate gland, which helps the body make semen, is located between a man's bladder and rectum. With traditional radiation therapy, doctors might mark the skin so they know where to direct the radiation beam.

The problem with that approach is that the gland, about the size and shape of a walnut, moves throughout the day, making precise treatment difficult, and the gland isn't visible on an X-ray, White said.  If the radiation isn't directed precisely at the tumor, the therapy could destroy surrounding tissue.  Doctors could use more radiation to improve their chances of killing cancer cells, but more radiation means more side effects, including burns, fatigue and sexual dysfunction,White said.

With the Calypso system, three tiny electromagnetic transponders - "they're about the size of a grain of rice," he said - are implanted in the prostate around the cancerous cells. The transponders signal the Calypso system, which uses those signals to guide the radiation beam to the cancerous cells. It's the same principle that lets a GPS satellite guide a vehicle precisely through city streets as signals are beamed from transponders in the vehicle to mapping satellites orbiting the earth.

Frank Fiore, 76, of White Oak, is the second local patient to undergo treatment with the Calypso system.  He learned he had prostate cancer in mid-July. Doctors gave him the options of surgery, radiation or a combination of the two. Fiore worried the side effects from traditional radiation might be as bad as the cancer. "I wasn't too turned on about surgery at my age," he said. When he learned about the Calypso system, he decided to try it.

"The radiation just focuses on the little pellets they insert. You don't have to worry about the radiation going where you don't need it, and they can give you a stronger dose because it doesn't go where they don't want it to go," Fiore said. He's not quite halfway through the radiation regimen. So far, he said, he feels fine.

Fiore learned about more than new technology when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. For years, he'd gotten the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening to check for prostate cancer. The test measures a protein that, in high amounts, indicates cancer might be present.  Fiore's test always came back in the safe zone - low enough to indicate that he probably didn't have cancer.  But this year, his doctor suggested a more comprehensive exam just in case. The major risk factor for prostate cancer, and other cancers, is advancing age.  Sure enough, Fiore said, the follow-up test found the tumor.

"There are a lot of men wandering out there with PSAs of 1 or less who don't think anything's wrong, and there's probably not," Fiore said. "But that's not the only exam men need to have, especially if they're over 50. That's what struck me most about this situation. I was living under a false impression."

The system is only approved for prostate cancer treatment, but other uses are being explored. Cost for the transponders is about $1,200 plus the cost of the surgery to implant them, White said. Most insurers don't cover the technology yet, he said, so the practice is absorbing the cost, rather than passing it on to patients.

For more information about to the Calypso® 4D Localization System™, please call InterCommunity Cancer Center


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