Moving to SBRT for prostate due to COVID-19?

Healthcare institutions around the world are currently under extraordinary pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the radiotherapy centers are no exception. Organizations like ASTRO and ESTRO have presented recommendations and information on how to manage radiotherapy treatments during this time of crisis.

A recurring theme for certain groups of prostate patients is to either postpone the treatment or treat with the shortest fractionation schedule that is proven to be effective and safe. This could lead to an increase in SBRT (or extreme hypofractionation) for some groups of prostate patients. Many SBRT-trials strongly recommend or require fiducials:

The reasons to use Gold Anchor

Gold Anchor can facilitate a resource effective, safe and accurate SBRT treatment with the ongoing challenges:

Safe implantation

Our thin 22G needle enables in-office transrectal implantation, without local anesthesia, at a very low risk of bleeding or infection, see this article. If there is a shortage in staff or there is a need to reduce the use of PPE, the implant may be performed by the physician alone.

Accurate patient positioning

Gold Anchor is clearly visible on kV-imaging and we offer a range of marker sizes for artefact control. Marker based IGRT using kV is intuitive, offers high precision, and is faster than soft tissue match using CBCT.

Instant stability

The strong tissue attachment with Gold Anchor allows for implantation and planning CT/MRI on the same day. Only one visit for the patient since there is no need to wait for markers to settle in.

Unique material

Gold Anchor has a unique gold-iron material that significantly enhances MRI-visibility and thereby helps the fusion of CT and MRI images. Fusing CT & MRI on markers increases accuracy. It is one of the reasons for the strong recommendation of using fiducial markers in the PACE B trial.

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We at Naslund Medical remain open, accept and ship orders as usual, and maintain our normal business hours. Our team is available to help facilitate the implementation of Gold Anchor. We offer samples, Test Kits and online training. For samples, fill out or form or send an email to info@goldanchormarker.com.