AMSTERDAM, June 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips
(NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) today announced that as part of the existing
Master Research Agreement with Yale School of
Medicine, it has entered into a new research program led
by Prof. Jeff Geschwind, chair
of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at Yale School of
Medicine, to innovate in interventional oncology. Philips will
collaborate with Prof. Geschwind and his team on a multi-year
cancer research program to explore new concepts in image-guided
therapies, as well as diagnostic imaging and informatics. The
research program also involves further research groups at
Yale School of Medicine.
One of the corner stones of cancer care, medical imaging enables
disease localization and quantification, therapy planning, and
treatment guidance and assessment. Prof. Geschwind is a pioneer in
interventional oncology, and following his recent appointment at
the Yale School of Medicine, one of the
top medical universities in the US, he has built an ambitious,
comprehensive research program in cancer diagnostics and
image-guided therapy. He has now teamed up with Philips as the
program's technology partner. Philips is a leading innovator in
diagnostic imaging technologies, such as MRI, CT and Ultrasound,
and associated health informatics tools that enable efficient data
acquisition, integration and analysis. Moreover, the company has a
broad portfolio of image-guided therapy solutions that enable
clinicians to decide, guide and confirm the appropriate
treatment.
"Over the past few years there have been significant
developments in image-guided therapy to locally treat tumors, with
the result that interventional oncology procedure volumes have
grown rapidly," said Prof. Geschwind. "However, the biggest
remaining challenge is that it is difficult to predict the
effectiveness of the procedure. Together with Philips, we are
embarking on a new multi-year research program with the aim to
redefine and standardize this type of minimally-invasive treatment
to achieve more predictable and better controlled procedure
outcomes, and ultimately enhanced patient care."
"We are on a mission to enhance existing interventional oncology
procedures and enable new ones that offer predictable and effective
minimally invasive options for treating cancerous lesions," said
Bert van Meurs, General Manager
Image Guided Therapy at Philips. "Our new collaboration with
Prof. Geschwind and his team will bring together different
scientific, engineering and medical specialties with the aim of
developing, validating and translating breakthrough technologies
for these targeted cancer therapies."
As part of the research agreement, a dedicated team of Philips
clinical scientists will be working closely with Prof. Geschwind's
team at the Yale School of Medicine in
a recently established state-of-the-art research facility optimized
to translate laboratory results into enhanced patient care.
Liver cancer, the second most lethal form of cancer [1], will be
one of the focus areas in the collaboration. Only a minority of
patients diagnosed with liver cancer are candidates for surgery,
and intravenously administered chemotherapy has limited effect on
the progression of the disease. An alternative technique known as
transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) has shown better results
than systemic chemotherapy and is now widely recognized as the best
option for patients with inoperable advanced stage liver cancer
[2]. TACE involves the local administration of chemotherapy agents
and embolic beads that simultaneously block the arteries feeding
the tumor and cause the tumor cells to die. The procedure involves
the insertion of a catheter, which must be navigated to the tumor
site with the aid of interventional X-ray guidance.
However, the efficacy of TACE is often limited by the lack of
predictive information prior to and during therapy – for example,
information on the tumor biology and metabolism that is needed to
determine the treatment strategy. Advanced diagnostic imaging and
real-time image-guidance during the procedure, have the potential
to advance TACE by consistently defining the best approach to the
active tumor cells and confirming the distribution of therapeutic
agents across the tumor. It is expected that ultimately this will
not only improve the efficacy of the procedure, but will also
encourage the more widespread adoption of new minimally invasive
cancer treatment options.
[1] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/;
Stewart BW, Wild CP. (2015) World cancer report 2014. International
Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization.
[2] Villanueva, A., Hernandez-Gea, V. and Llovet,
J.M. (2013) Medical therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma: a
critical view of the evidence. Nature Reviews Gastroenterology and
Hepatology, 10(1), pp.34-42.
For further information, please contact:
Steve
Klink
Philips Group Communications
Tel.: +31 6 10888824
E-mail: steve.klink@philips.com
Kathy O'Reilly
Philips Group Communications
Tel.: +1 978-221-8919
E-mail: Kathy.oreilly@philips.com
Twitter: @kathyoreilly
About Royal
Philips
Royal Philips
(NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company
focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes
across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to
diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced
technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver
integrated solutions. The company is a leader in diagnostic
imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health
informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care.
Headquartered in the Netherlands,
Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2015 sales of
EUR 16.8 billion and employs
approximately 69,000 employees with sales and services in more than
100 countries. News about Philips can be found at
www.philips.com/newscenter.
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SOURCE Royal Philips