Transaction Description:
IMPROVING ALLOCATION OF SCARCE MEDICAL PHYSICS RESOURCES THROUGH A NOVEL, COMPREHENSIVE QUALITY ASSURANCE DEVICE. - HEALTHCARE DISPARITIES IN THE US RESULT IN LARGE SEGMENTS OF THE POPULATION WITHOUT ACCESS TO RADIATION THERAPY (RT). THIS MANIFESTS ITSELF IN EASTERN KENTUCKY AND APPALACHIA, WHEREIN THE IMPACT IS EXACERBATED BY THE HIGH INCIDENCE OF SMOKING-RELATED CANCERS. RT IS AN EFFECTIVE COMPONENT OF THE TREATMENT STRATEGY FOR THESE PATIENTS. ADVANCED TECHNIQUES SUCH AS INTENSITY MODULATED RADIATION THERAPY (IMRT), IMAGE-GUIDED RT (IGRT), STEREOTACTIC BODY RT (SBRT) AND STEREOTACTIC RADIOSURGERY (SRS) IMPROVE OUTCOMES AND ARE DELIVERED USING MEDICAL LINEAR ACCELERATORS (I.E., ‘LINACS”). SBRT IS ESPECIALLY APPEALING IN THESE SETTINGS, GIVEN THAT THE PRECISE TREATMENTS ARE DELIVERED IN 1-5 DAILY TREATMENT FRACTIONS, AS OPPOSED TO THE 20-40 FRACTIONS REQUIRED FOR CONVENTIONAL TECHNIQUES. PROVIDING SBRT IN RURAL SETTINGS CAN IMPROVE ACCESS BY ADMINISTERING THESE PRECISE, ABBREVIATED TREATMENTS TO PATIENTS WHO HAVE DIFFICULTY TRAVELING TO LARGE, REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTERS. THE QUALITY ASSURANCE (QA) THAT MEDICAL PHYSICISTS PROVIDE IS CRITICAL FOR SAFE TREATMENTS, YET THERE IS A SHORTAGE OF QUALIFIED MEDICAL PHYSICISTS (QMPS), BOTH IN THE US AND GLOBALLY. AT THE SAME TIME, MORE CENTERS ARE INTRODUCING MODERN TECHNIQUES THAT ARE MORE PRECISE BUT INTRINSICALLY HAVE MORE RISK, DUE THE HIGH DOSES AND GEOMETRIC PRECISION REQUIRED. THERE IS WIDESPREAD NONCOMPLIANCE WITH INDUSTRY STANDARD QA PROTOCOLS IN THE US AND INTERNATIONALLY. EXISTING QA DEVICES HAVE NOT EVOLVED SUFFICIENTLY TO PROVIDE THE PRECISION, VERSATILITY AND EFFICIENCY THAT IS NEEDED FOR HIGH PRECISION RT. GIVEN THESE EXACERBATED SAFETY RISKS, THE MARKET NEEDS A PARADIGM SHIFT IN HOW QA IS PERFORMED IN MODERN RT. WILD DOG PHYSICS (WDP) PROPOSES TO DESIGN AND TEST A NEW-GENERATION QA DEVICE, THAT ADDRESSES THESE UNMET MEDICAL NEEDS. WE HAVE TRADEMARKED THIS DEVICE THE RETRIEVERTM. WHEN COMPLETE, IT WILL BE MORE PRECISE, EFFICIENT, AND COMPREHENSIVE THAN ANY QA SOLUTION CURRENTLY ON THE MARKET. THE PROPOSED PROJECT SEEKS TO DEVELOP A CLINICAL PROTOTYPE TO BE TESTED IN THE RADIATION THERAPY CLINIC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY, AS WELL AS PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS LOCATED IN RURAL, UNDERSERVED AREAS. HAVING PROVEN FEASIBILITY IN OUR FEASIBILITY STUDY, WE SEEK TO ADVANCE THIS INNOVATION TO COMMERCIAL VIABILITY IN PHASE 2 THROUGH THREE SPECIFIC AIMS: 1) HARDWARE REFINEMENT, TO ALLOW MEASUREMENT OF MACHINE PERFORMANCE METRICS TO WITHIN 0.5 MM AND 1% RELATIVE DOES; 2) SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TO ALLOW REAL-TIME DATA ANALYSIS, REAL-TIME COMPLIANCE ASSESSMENT AND ANALYTICAL TOOLS THAT CAN MONITOR LONG-TERM TRENDS, ABRUPT SHIFTS, AND INTER-MACHINE AND INTER-INSTITUTIONAL COMPARISONS AND; 3) CLINICAL TESTING TO VALIDATE THE SENSITIVITY AND SPECIFICITY OF THE RETRIEVER TO SHIFTS IN MACHINE CHARACTERISTICS. WE WILL WORK WITH KEY ACADEMIC AND CLINICAL PARTNERS IN THE DESIGN AND TESTING PHASES, INCLUDING QUALIFIED MEDICAL PHYSICISTS (QMPS) SERVING IN SPARSELY POPULATED, LOW RESOURCE SETTINGS IN THE US. WHEN SUCCESSFUL, THIS IMPORTANT INNOVATION WILL HELP TO BRING ACCURATE, STATE-OF-THE-ART RADIATION THERAPY TREATMENTS TO PATIENTS WHO MIGHT OTHERWISE NOT RECEIVE THEM.
