Cedara seeks to provide missing link between oncology and imaging
Cedara Software Corp. focused on providing the 'missing link' between advanced medical imaging technology and oncology at last week's American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting in Denver, Colo.
"One of the new areas in oncology is imaging, particularly molecular imaging," said Harald Zachmann, marketing manager oncology. "What's going to happen, and Cedara is going to help change this, is using imaging to assess the treatment of a tumor. To do this more quickly in a therapy process so we have molecular imaging techniques that can detect changes in three weeks versus the two to three months that it takes to detect changes in conventional therapy."
Cedara is developing a whole work-in-progress suite of oncology-related applications called OncologyWorks. One of the main components is the work-in-progress I-Response a software product that has been designed to help determine more exactly measure the changes to tumors in reaction to therapy.
"Traditionally what has happened is that people have used things like linear measurements such as distances and angles," said Marwan Sati, PhD, PENG, director, medical applications. Adding that "what we are talking about is really all of the latest technology in imaging into the oncology space. Traditionally radiology and oncology have really been silos."
Another exclusive features of I-Response, and of OncologyWorks in general, is Function Diffusion Mapping (fDM), a technique which received an Excellence in Radiotherapy scientific poster award at ASTRO. The technique was awarded because of its potential to detect tumors and quantify them earlier through analysis of treatment response at the cellular level.
"I-Response in particular really could cause a paradigm shift in the way radiation therapy is done," said Sati. The shift is to drastically shorten treatment cycle times, he added.
This is essential because in some cases you only get a few treatment cycles to determine the success of a treatment. The ability to increase the rapidity of results is a matter of life and death, essentially.
Cedara also showcased its I-Conference tool which is designed allow for the quick and efficient consolidation of images and data for medical presentations, activities which normally represent a tedious and time-consuming process.
"[I-Conference] assists communication of information that comes from multiple sources, for example molecular imaging and other types of diseases, and patient information," said Sati.
The company also provided details for its I-Reach which facilitates the viewing of diagnostic images (including 3D) over the internet securely.
Additionally, Cedara put the spotlight on another work-in-progress called Oncology Care Manager which is being designed to help clinicians not only track tumor status and but also gather non-imaging clinical data as a compliment to the information typically gathered by common radiation therapy systems.
"One of the new areas in oncology is imaging, particularly molecular imaging," said Harald Zachmann, marketing manager oncology. "What's going to happen, and Cedara is going to help change this, is using imaging to assess the treatment of a tumor. To do this more quickly in a therapy process so we have molecular imaging techniques that can detect changes in three weeks versus the two to three months that it takes to detect changes in conventional therapy."
Cedara is developing a whole work-in-progress suite of oncology-related applications called OncologyWorks. One of the main components is the work-in-progress I-Response a software product that has been designed to help determine more exactly measure the changes to tumors in reaction to therapy.
"Traditionally what has happened is that people have used things like linear measurements such as distances and angles," said Marwan Sati, PhD, PENG, director, medical applications. Adding that "what we are talking about is really all of the latest technology in imaging into the oncology space. Traditionally radiology and oncology have really been silos."
Another exclusive features of I-Response, and of OncologyWorks in general, is Function Diffusion Mapping (fDM), a technique which received an Excellence in Radiotherapy scientific poster award at ASTRO. The technique was awarded because of its potential to detect tumors and quantify them earlier through analysis of treatment response at the cellular level.
"I-Response in particular really could cause a paradigm shift in the way radiation therapy is done," said Sati. The shift is to drastically shorten treatment cycle times, he added.
This is essential because in some cases you only get a few treatment cycles to determine the success of a treatment. The ability to increase the rapidity of results is a matter of life and death, essentially.
Cedara also showcased its I-Conference tool which is designed allow for the quick and efficient consolidation of images and data for medical presentations, activities which normally represent a tedious and time-consuming process.
"[I-Conference] assists communication of information that comes from multiple sources, for example molecular imaging and other types of diseases, and patient information," said Sati.
The company also provided details for its I-Reach which facilitates the viewing of diagnostic images (including 3D) over the internet securely.
Additionally, Cedara put the spotlight on another work-in-progress called Oncology Care Manager which is being designed to help clinicians not only track tumor status and but also gather non-imaging clinical data as a compliment to the information typically gathered by common radiation therapy systems.