Urology
GOLD ANCHOR
Unique Fiducial Marker
Overview
The Gold Anchor, an innovative fiducial marker enables quicker and more effective radiation therapy treatment with increased patient safety.
The unique design makes the Gold Anchor marker easy to implant. The fine 25G, 22G or 20G needle minimize the risk of infection and bleeding, decreases pneumothorax and patient discomfort and enables passage through almost any inner organ. There is no need to use local anesthesia and many users choose to perform dose planning CT of the patients immediately after marker implantation.
Cut-outs in its structure allow the Gold Anchor to be either folded into a "ball" or placed as a "line" during implantation. This guarantees excellent tissue anchorage, reduces the risk of migration or fallouts during treatment and allows more reference points to be achieved with a smaller amount of Gold Anchors.
With a diameter of only 0.28 or 0.40 mm, a much larger surface-to-volume ratio is achieved than with traditional markers. This improves visibility while reducing unwanted imaging artifacts.
Its gold alloy with 0.5% iron content increases visibility in MRI, making the Gold Anchor visible in all common imaging techniques.
3D semi-robotic Arm with integrated electronic-mechanical tracking
The ARTEMIS device differs from others in that it incorporates a semi-robotic mechanical arm with electronic encoders used to scan, digitize and track the prostate in real-time as well as to navigate needles prospectively and precisely.
Applications
Varian TrueBeam® Auto Beam Hold
Gold Anchor fiducial markers can automatically be detected by Varian TrueBeam Auto Beam Hold. This creates unprecedented opportunities to provide safe and economical radiotherapy with high accuracy and precision.
Frameless SBRT
The Gold Anchor indicates the true position of the organ and it is therefore more accurate and precise than the frame technique.
This allows a reduced setup time in the treatment room compared to the xyz coordinate frame technique, an increased safety and reduced risk of treatment errors and a better throughput.
CyberKnife® treatments
Gold Anchor has so far been used for Cyberknife treatments of lung, liver, pancreas, adrenal gland, and prostate. It is recommended to insert Gold Anchor as a ball shaped or tadpole shaped marker.
TomoTherapy® treatments
Gold Anchor can be used be used with TomoTherapy system. The best visibility is achieved by implanting a 0.4x20mm marker (GA200-20-B) with a ball shape.
Gold Anchor is great for Proton Therapy
The thinner (0.28 mm diameter) Gold Anchor markers cause very little dose perturbation when they are implemented with a line shape. The high density Gold material provides good visibility with kV imaging.
Varian and Varian Medical Systems are registered trademarks, and TrueBeam® is a trademark of Varian Medical Systems, Inc
Cyberknife® is one of the trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Accuray Incorporated in the United States and other countries.
TomoTherapy® and Hi Art® are registered or common law trademarks of TomoTherapy Incorporated in the United States and other countries
Minimal Invasive
The Gold Anchor Fiducial Marker utilizes for the implantation thin 25, 22 or 20 Gauge needles with the following advantages:
- Reduced risk of pneumothorax
- Reduced patient discomfort – less need for anesthesia
- Less risk of infection, edema, and bleeding
- Less risk of seeding of cancer cells
Instant Stability
Multiple cut-outs allow the Gold Anchor to fold in different shapes depending on implantation technique. This provides a great initial tissue attachment. Line shaped markers are useful for detecting plastic deformations and tilting. Completely folded markers are suitable for systems with automatic marker detection. The initial stability of the Gold Anchor allows the dose planning immediately after implantation.
Great Visibility
The Gold Anchor is only 0.28 or 0.4 mm thick, which improves the surface-to-volume ratio. An alloy of gold and 0.5% iron allows an improved MR visibility.
Benefits:
- Reduce CT-artifacts
- Easily register CT and MR images
- Clearly visible on kV and ultrasound
- Ideal for proton therapy
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
