As reported in DOTmed News, the 51st annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) captivated an estimated 11,000 attendees at the McCormick Convention Center in Chicago, Ill., Nov 1 - 5.

More than 200 sessions were held concurrently at the meeting, which also included 1,200 scientific presentations, hundreds of poster presentations and sponsored social events throughout the city.

This year's theme was "Radiation Oncology in 2020." Plenary sessions included a symposium on the prospective development of radiation oncology in the near future, led by Tim R. Williams, M.D., President of ASTRO and a practicing radiation oncologist at Boca Raton (FLa.) Community Hospital. Other specialized sessions were conducted on the topics of nanotechnology, emerging functional and molecular imaging modalities like PET/MR, and the future of immunotherapy, gene therapy and adaptive therapy -- all meant to inform ASTRO's diverse membership.

"Historically and for 50 years our job has been to take the science of radiation oncology and present it to the membership and the community at large," said Dr. Williams. "ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology society in the world. We have over 10,000 members including physicians in this country, medical physicists, radiation therapy technologists, nurses, biologists, dosimetrists -- the whole universal team that participates in the care of the oncology patient."

Attendance this year was down from the approximately 12,400 attendees who showed in 2008. Dr. Williams described the estimated attendee total of 11,000 this year as "a good, solid number."

Technology Fest

All the major manufacturers of external radiation treatment and simulation systems were on hand displaying radiation oncology's latest and greatest wares, including Varian's RapidArc, and Siemens' Artiste linear accelerator, TomoTherapy's TomoHD and TomoMobile mobile radiation therapy trailer, as well as Accuray's CyberKnife, and Elekta's Axesse linac and Gamma Knife technologies.

Among treatment simulation systems, Philips featured the Gemini TF Big Bore PET/CT; Siemens displayed their Biograph mCT hybrid PET/CT system and CTVision (aka CT-on-Rails), which can be set up at a 90-degree angle from the linac for easier and potentially more adaptive treatment planning; and GE showed the impressive Discovery 600 PET/CT simulation system.

Interoperability appeared to be the name of the game on the exhibition floor this year. On clustered workstations and monitors inside the booths, demos of oncology information systems, tumor segmentation and tracking applications and multi-phase imaging studies wowed clinicians looking for faster, more powerful tools for personalized treatment planning.

"We're watching in the industry a lot of changes in the way cancer treatment programs are put together," said Paul Anderson, General Manager of Oncology for GE. "It's really about how we make the connections between, for example, motion in the body and how it relates to treatment planning and better targeting and how it feeds into these technologies with advanced treatment capabilities."

Relative newcomer Calypso had on view their works-in-process Dynamic Edge Gating Technology, which provides interconnectivity with linear accelerators and implanted radiofrequency transponders providing moment-to-moment electromagnetic tracking of the tumor as treatment occurs. Both Varian and Siemens had Calypso technology on display at their booths.

"We're excited, because we've got master development agreements now, both with Varian and Siemens, to jointly develop new technologies for radiation therapy," said Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Lorraine Marshall Wright.

ASTRO's next annual meeting will be held Oct 31 - Nov 4, 2010, in San Diego Convention Center.

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