Nucletron, an Elekta company, and the world leader in brachytherapy, has launched Esteya®, a new approach for treating patients with skin cancer.
Over the last 30 years, more people were diagnosed with skin cancer worldwide than all other cancers combined, making it the most common type of cancer1. This represents a challenge for health care providers in the years to come. With a cure rate of more than 95 percent2, electronic brachytherapy offers a refined treatment modality with excellent cosmesis.
Making high precision skin cancer treatment accessible
Esteya electronic brachytherapy mimics proven high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy by bringing a small X-ray source very close to the cancerous site, enabling the local application of radiation for effective treatment. Esteya requires only minimal room shielding, allowing the treatment to occur virtually anywhere patients are seen.
“The highly efficient workflow and easy patient set-up of Esteya make skin cancer treatment extremely easy to plan and deliver,” says John Lapré, Executive Vice President, Elekta Brachytherapy. “The high dose rate enables delivery of the treatment fraction in less than three minutes. With Esteya, radiation oncologists have access to a safe and patient-friendly treatment that offers a great opportunity to expand radiation therapy services for skin cancer patients.”
Boca Raton Regional Hospital among first U.S. installations
One of the first installations of Esteya in the United States is scheduled to occur in November 2013. Michael Kasper, MD, a radiation oncologist at Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s Lynn Cancer Institute, says implementation of Esteya at a satellite clinic of the hospital will help bring HDR brachytherapy to more patients.
“Accessibility is the main advantage,” he observes. “Esteya has a compact design and reduced shielding requirements, which will enable us to move it throughout the clinic. We’ll be able to offer the HDR brachytherapy option to more people. Electronic brachytherapy also offers short treatment times and convenient and effective dosing.”