VEENENDAAL, The Netherlands, February 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Nucletron BV and clinicians at The Cancer Centre, Northern Ireland, proudly report the first IMRT clinical treatment within the Conventional or Hypofractionated High-Dose Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer (CHHiP) clinical trial utilizing Nucletron's Oncentra(R) MasterPlan. CHHiP, part of the NCRN/NCRI portfolio of cancer trials and sponsored by the Institute of Cancer Research, is a Phase III national, multi-centre, randomized trial for the treatment of prostate cancer using external beam radiotherapy.

The IMRT module, Oncentra Optimizer and its Direct Step & Shoot (DSS) capabilities, provides the right planning tools to shape the radiation doses in a complex multi-target area in the prostate while at the same time reducing the dose in the surrounding healthy tissues, including the bladder and rectum.

"We are very pleased to have started IMRT treatments within this important trial," said Dr Vivian Cosgrove, clinical scientist at The Cancer Centre, Northern Ireland. "During the clinical work-up, we were impressed by the improvements to the IMRT planning process the Direct Step & Shoot (DSS) facility can provide, both in terms of planning efficiency and in the conformance of dose to very challenging dose-volume constraints."

At the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre, Oncentra MasterPlan operates with modern accelerators and CT, MR and PET/CT scanners. Key features of MasterPlan, such as image registration, image fusion and multi-modality imaging, play an important role in uniting information between the imaging and treatment equipment. Features such as mutual information image fusion, extra-planar image reconstruction and manipulation, and fusion verification software capabilities can reduce the time physicians need for contouring target and organs-at-risk volumes. Inherent in MasterPlan is a sophisticated, DICOM RT compliant archive that will make the treatment-planning workflow more efficient and improve plan-data traceability and transfer, within the Cancer Centre and beyond.

About Nucletron:

Nucletron is a knowledge-based leader in Radiation Oncology, working with clinical teams to realize innovative solutions that improve patient care. Nucletron strives to offer the best possible choice of radiation modalities through integrated products, software and services. Critical to the Nucletron philosophy is the establishment of close working relationships with individual clinical teams - reconfiguring traditional boundaries between customer and solution provider. Many Nucletron employees have clinical experience delivering oncology care, providing an in-depth understanding of the complex needs of clinicians. For more information, visit http://www.nucletron.com.

About the Northern Ireland Cancer Centre

The population of Northern Ireland is approximately 1.7 million. In 2006 a new Cancer Centre was opened in Northern Ireland, based at Belfast City Hospital. The centre provides a fully integrated service for cancer care in Northern Ireland, including an extensive, 10 bunker radiotherapy suite, diagnostic and therapy imaging and 84 bed in-patient wards. Linked to the hematology, general medical and surgical facilities in the City Hospital and combined with the recently opened Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB), it makes Belfast one of Europe's leaders in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

About RaySearch Laboratories

RaySearch develops and licenses software for radiation therapy of cancer. The company's products are specially designed to optimize radiation therapy. RaySearch is based in Stockholm, Sweden. For more information on RaySearch, please visit http://www.raysearchlabs.com.

Media Contacts: Europe: Mark van Braak, +31-318-557-255, Mark.vanbraak@nl.nucletron.com; North America: Danielle Davis, Rose Communications, +1-443-834-6725, ddavis@rosecommunications.com