Creating excellent treatment plans, faster

The Lake Constance Radiation Oncology Center in Singen, Germany, is a small, private oncology center that delivers an exceptionally high standard of care. To maintain efficiency while creating outstanding treatment plans, they rely on the Pinnacle³ radiation therapy planning system. Mr. Holger Wirtz, Chief Medical Physicist, and Prof. Johannes Lutterbach, Radiation Oncologist, are key clinicians at the Center. They tell us how Pinnacle helps them simplify tasks while generating high-quality results.

Exceptional workflows to support exceptionally high levels of care

It’s a point of pride for the Lake Constance Radiation Oncology Center that no patient leaves without a treatment plan. To keep living up to this standard, and with caseloads increasing year by year, they need workflows that can meet this high demand. For plans they trust, Wirtz and Lutterbach use Pinnacle³ radiation therapy planning. “The integration on Pinnacle³ is like nothing I’ve seen on the market. It pulls together workflows into one system,” says Wirtz.

With enhanced automation, workflows are now so efficient that clinicians can consult one additional patient per day. And not just that – the plans that are generated enjoy a good reputation. Only about ten percent of cases require replanning; the rest rely on one plan in which integrated boosts and the final dose are already considered.

Saving time with Pinnacle³

Improving image quality, one step at a time

Pinnacle³’s powerful computation accelerates processes throughout the center. IMRT plans are typically optimized in two minutes; complicated plans require about an hour. At the LINAC, therapists spend only 90 seconds (down from 15 to 20 minutes) with the phantom data for cross-measurement, allowing them to start planning the next case.* Automation tools on Pinnacle³ also change the way the center schedules work. Auto-segmentation with SPICE, for example, helps prevent labeling mismatches that can slow down scripts. The center also uses Pinnacle³ Auto-Planning, a new module designed to help clinicians accelerate IMRT and VMAT planning with smart optimization tools.

This short video demonstrates what Pinnacle³ Auto-Planning can do, and shows responses from clinicians including Wirtz.

Efficiency that puts care first

Quality of care, or quantity of patients? Lutterbach doesn’t see a trade-off. The Lake Constance Radiation Oncology Center has been using Pinnacle³ radiation therapy planning and a Philips Brilliance CT Big Bore scanner since the center was founded in 2008. “Our medical technology allows us to scan a lot of patients quickly, and start the treatment fast,” he says. And the high quality of care is also visible from the low occurrence of severe side effects. “The surgeon here often says he can’t tell our patient has undergone radiation – even when there’s a pause between treatment and surgery.”