2020 highlights

Making the most of a challenging year, RaySearch persevered the pandemic via creative and adaptive ways of doing business. Resources were reallocated to virtual events in lieu of in-person congresses and meetings; product installations and user trainings were held remotely, and temporary licenses were granted to some clinics pro bono such as CHU Liege, and CHUV Lausanne.

Despite travel restrictions, promising expansions occurred in Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America, with sustained momentum in APAC, Europe and North America.

EUROPE/ AFRICA

Utilizing a machine learning algorithm in treatment planning system RayStation®*, Mälarsjukhuset in Eskilstuna, Sweden, has made significant time savings in dose planning for radiation therapy. The algorithm in question is a deep learning method for contouring organs. The decision to implement this advanced technology was made to save time, thereby alleviating the prevailing shortage of doctors specialized in radiation therapy at the hospital – which was also exacerbated by the COVID-19 situation.

University Medical Centre Maribor (UKC Maribor) in Slovenia placed an order for treatment planning system RayStation in November 2020. UKC Maribor became the 700th customer to choose the system, and Slovenia became the 40th country with RayStation customers.

RayStation and next-generation oncology information system (OIS) RayCare®* are now in operation at the brand new Particle Therapy Interuniversity Centre Leuven (PARTICLE). The center is the first proton therapy clinic in the world with the combination of RayCare and IBA’s single-room proton therapy device Proteus ONE.

Haaglanden Medical Center, Leiden University Medical Center, and Haga Hospital in the Netherlands have chosen RayStation. Following a joint request for tenders and a wide variety of tests, the evaluation committee found RayStation to be the best-value system available.

Oslo University Hospital, home to one of the world’s largest cancer clinics, acquired RayStation for use at Norway’s first national proton therapy center. The order was placed in Q1, and installation and user training took place remotely during Q2-3. Despite misgivings in the early onset of the pandemic, the process was successful.

RayStation is now in clinical use at the two proton centers currently established in Spain: Quirónsalud and Clínica Universidad de Navarra.

The Kingdom of Morocco’s Ryad Oncologia Clinic and two Groupe Les Oliviers sites became the first cancer centers in north Africa to order treatment planning system RayStation. RayStation has been chosen to provide access to advanced treatment planning features that were previously unavailable in the north African market.

Axim Nuclear & Oncology will now be supplying RayStation to the radiotherapy market in South Africa.

AMERICAS

RaySearch demonstrated the release of RayStation 10B in December 2020 at ASTRO, including a new functionality - support for brachytherapy planning. In line with the company’s aim to support as many treatment delivery systems as possible, RayStation features automatic channel reconstruction in combination with powerful dwell time optimization to make the creation of high-quality brachytherapy plans more expedient and consistent.

RaySearch and TAE Life Sciences reached agreement on RayStation support for the Alphabeam System for BNCT. RayStation will work in conjunction with TAE Life Sciences’ proprietary dose calculation software for the Alphabeam System, which can be configured for single- or multi-room BNCT centers.

Clínica El Rosario in Colombia became the first RaySearch customer in South America to go live with treatment planning system RayStation for Accuray’s Radixact System. The clinic has also ordered oncology information system RayCare.

ASIA-PACIFIC

RayStation-supported accelerator-based BNCT system in Japan received the world’s first market clearance as a medical device. RayStation is now in clinical use with boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) – along with treatment machine from Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. (SHI) – at two leading cancer clinics in Japan. The accelerator-based BNCT system and dose-calculation program from SHI obtained market clearance in spring 2020.

Clinicians at Southern Tohoku General Hospital in Koriyama, Fukushima, treated the first patient with the combination of SHI’s BNCT treatment delivery equipment and RayStation on May 26, 2020. The clinical launch at Osaka Medical College in Osaka followed shortly thereafter.

Yonsei Cancer Center became the first clinic in the Asia-Pacific region to choose RayCare and RayStation for superconducting carbon gantry rooms. Yonsei Cancer Center in Seoul, South Korea, was the first clinic in the Asia-Pacific region to adopt oncology information system RayCare. The center has also ordered an additional RayStation system for carbon-ion radiation therapy treatment planning.

Queensland’s Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital selected RayStation to plan for Varian treatment machines. Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) has entered a new era of cancer treatment by replacing its former photon planning system with treatment planning system RayStation. The adaptive workflow functionality and multi-criteria optimization capabilities of RayStation will help sustain RBWHs position as one of the region’s most-advanced treatment centers.

*Subject to regulatory clearance in some markets.