BSD Medical is Now Pyrexar Medical

In Part 3 of the hyperthermia news report, produced by Salt Lake City's ABC station Good4Utah, we meet Randy.  Randy is an excellent example of what hyperthermia could do for cancer patients around the world.  Randy was diagnosed with rectal cancer that had metastasized to his colon and lungs. The tumor was too large to be surgically removed. As in most cases with cancers this advanced, the doctors tried to make the patient comfortable with pain killers and recommended hospice care.  I cannot imagine what that must feel like to hear that your life is at its end.

But Randy had an advocate in his sister and, through an internet search, found Dr. Hayes of Gamma West Cancer Services.  Dr. Hayes had a plan, treat the primary tumor with brachytherapy and hyperthermia to providing the best outcome.  Not only did the treatment shrink the primary tumor and kill cancer, but also the other tumors continue to shrink or have disappeared entirely. Randy has a new lease on life.

I want to repeat this point. The primary tumor was treated with brachytherapy radiation and interstitial hyperthermia.  The metastatic sites of the colon and lung received no treatment, no radiation, and no chemotherapy.  How did the other cancers disappear? Immune Modulation.  Hyperthermia restarted the immune systems' ability to recognize cancer.  The body's immune system attacked any stray cancer cells that may find a new stronghold in the body.

When I have asked other doctors why hyperthermia is not used in all cancer treatment, the response I get is radiation and chemotherapy work "pretty well."  Our hope is hyperthermia will play more of a role in first-line treatment as a non-pharmaceutical radiosensitizer (with little to no toxicity).

The patient was treated at Gamma West Cancer Services using brachytherapy and the Pyrexar BSD-500 Interstitial Hyperthermia System. See the video and full transcript at www.Good4Utah.com

See the complete ABC News series Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5

Pyrexar is working very hard to bring innovation to our products.  But nothing is more important than sharing the message of hope that hyperthermia treatment can bring to cancer patients.  Although there is a long, successful history of this therapy, few Americans know about it.  We want to know why? 

Although hyperthermia system sales have been accelerating in the last two years in Asia, Europeans have had a long history of using this technology. In part 4, we meet Professor Dr. Peter Wust of Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, who has been treating patients with hyperthermia for over three decades. The team at Charité is the world's leading experts in this type of cancer treatment.  You can learn more about the treatment options at the Charité in their patient brochure.

See the video and full transcript at www.Good4Utah.com

Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin currently uses the BSD-2000 3D Deep Regional system to deliver hyperthermia at any depth of the body.

See the complete ABC News series Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5

Part 5 of the ABC news series on hyperthermia is probably the most important.  In the past, we have talked about phase III clinical studies, and have shown peer-reviewed evidence that adding hyperthermia to radiotherapy and chemotherapy improves outcomes and extends life. We know it energizes the body's immune system to fight cancer on its own.  We know it is well excepted as a cancer treatment in Europe and Asia.

But none of that matters. No matter how effective hyperthermia treatment is, it will not save your mother, your father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather or your child, if it remains relatively unknown in the U.S.  Whether you know it or not, you have a choice in your medical treatment.  It takes research and advocacy and the sharing of information. In this news series, you met four people who are here today because someone advocated for them and hyperthermia.

You can help more people survive cancer. Share this story. Shed some light that there are hyperthermia treatment protocols for most cancers that have solid tumors. Tell people that hyperthermia was once an ancient medical treatment, or that it uses some of the most advanced image-guided technology in medicine. Tell them there are 30 years of scientifically proven evidence; it has FDA approval, its available in university hospitals and cancer centers in this country, and can be covered by most insurance.  There is a map on pyrexar.com that will show them where the closest center is located. It is that simple.

See the video and full transcript at www.Good4Utah.com

Thank you to all of the generous individuals that were involved in making this story happen.  Thank you to the ABC Good4Utah news team for taking on topics that help others.  To Gamma West Cancer Services for not backing away from patients that others have given up on.  And to my co-workers at Pyrexar Medical, notably Paul Turner, who continues to improve this technology, and has for over 40 years. Thank you.

See the complete ABC News series Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5

We just returned from Taiwan after attending the TASTRO -  Taiwan Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology annual conference.  The event was held at the Tiangong Hall in the Kaohsiung Junhong Hotel in  Kaohsiung City. Presenters at the two-day conference covered a range of topics, including the Best of ASTRO topics (Head and Neck Cancer, Abdomen/Pelvis, Chest).  We also enjoyed the presentation on the use of brachytherapy in early-stage breast cancer. We believe that interstitial hyperthermia, and the immune response trigger of heat can play an essential role in this treatment protocol. But the main focus of the event centered around proton therapy.

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The highlight of the conference was a keynote presentation by Dr. Zeljko Vujaskovic from the University of Maryland Proton Center. Dr. Vujaskovic provided an overview of the development of Thermal Therapy, with an emphasis on its reemerging role in cancer treatment.   Dr. Vujaskovic and his team have developed the world's first center to combine proton therapy and thermal therapy treatment in a single facility. The team has recently started treating patients in the new thermal suite, and early results are positive.  The University of Maryland has used the BSD-500 for many years, and the recent addition of a BSD-2000 last spring will allow them to treat cases using hyperthermia in the superficial, interstitial, and profound regional modes.

A special thanks to our Taiwan sales organization AMES Medical. They did a tremendous job hosting our team and creating a comprehensive marketing and sales presentation in the conference booth.

Plus: AIRO - Italian Association of Radiotherapy Oncology

We were also represented this month at the AIRO by our distributor Tema Sinergia. The 28th Annual AIRO was held Nov. 2-4 at the Rimini Conference Center, Rimini, Italy. The event is co-located with the 31st National Congress AIRB and the 10th National AIRO Youth Congress.

Thank you to the Tema Sinergia team for their excellent work.