Healthcare Industry News: SAVI
News Release - September 20, 2007
Cianna Medical Will Continue Innovation in SAVI Breast Brachytherapy Begun by BioLucent
ALISO VIEJO, Calif.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Cianna Medical has been created as a new company to focus exclusively on its innovative SAVI(TM) breast brachytherapy technology. Cianna is a spinoff of BioLucent, Inc., with Cianna retaining the same team that developed the SAVI technology.The creation of Cianna Medical comes with the completion of Hologic, Inc.'s acquisition of BioLucent and its MammoPad breast cushion business. Virtually all of BioLucent's leadership team will remain at Cianna Medical.
"An innovative new technology like SAVI is best nurtured in a small company environment," said Steve Gex, Cianna's CEO and formerly BioLucent CEO. "SAVI offers a unique combination of attributes for delivery of post-lumpectomy radiation therapy, and Cianna is ideally positioned to maximize SAVI's full potential for patients, surgeons and radiation oncologists."
SAVI offers women who have had lumpectomy surgery a more convenient, five-day course of treatment than is available with external radiation. The standard course of treatment for external radiation is six to seven weeks and can create a significant disruption in the lives of women and their families.
In addition to a shorter course of treatment, the multi-catheter, expandable SAVI applicator provides a precisely targeted, contoured dose of radiation that treats tissue surrounding the lumpectomy cavity from the inside out.
This approach is designed to make the benefits of partial breast irradiation available to a larger group of women. It also gives more treatment planning flexibility to the radiation oncologist and physicist, and gives physicians the ability to control and contour the radiation dose.
"I'm impressed with the way that SAVI's individual catheters allow me to tailor the radiation dose," said Catherine Yashar, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego. "This feature makes it possible to offer breast brachytherapy to patients who previously would not have been candidates for it, especially those whose lumpectomy cavity is close to the skin surface or chest wall."
Dr. Yashar is a surgeon and radiation oncologist who is the chief of breast and gynecological services in the Department of Radiation Oncology. She is one of the first physicians to have used SAVI in patients.
"The SAVI technology has had a strongly positive reception from surgeons and radiation oncologists," said Vicki Clements, Cianna's vice president of marketing. "Those who have experienced SAVI have told us it may represent a significant advance in post-surgical breast radiotherapy."
About Cianna Medical
Cianna Medical, Inc. is a women's health company dedicated to the innovative treatment of early-stage breast cancer. The company manufactures and markets the SAVI(TM) breast-brachytherapy device, for the delivery of radiation after lumpectomy surgery. The SAVI applicator allows contouring of the radiation dose, and is designed to make the benefits of accelerated partial breast irradiation available to a greater number of women. For more information about the company, call (toll-free) 866-920-9444 or visit www.CiannaMedical.com.
Source: Cianna Medical
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