The Christ Hospital Health Network Now Offering New Targeted Therapy for Brain Tumors
The Christ Hospital Health Network is pleased to announce it now offers GammaTile® Therapy, an innovative approach to treating brain tumors.
5/12/2021
The Christ Hospital Health Network is pleased to announce it now offers GammaTile® Therapy, an innovative approach to treating brain tumors. GammaTile Therapy is an FDA-cleared, Surgically Targeted Radiation Therapy (STaRT) designed to delay tumor regrowth for patients with brain tumors while protecting healthy brain tissue. The first patient at The Christ Hospital was treated by Robert Bohinski, MD, PhD, Mayfield Brain & Spine neurosurgeon and Director of Neurosurgery at The Christ Hospital.
“Providing GammaTile as an option to patients with brain tumors shows how Mayfield Brain & Spine’s expanded partnership with The Christ Hospital is benefiting patients and improving the health of our community,” said Dr. Bohinski. “The targeted radiation treatment that GammaTile provides will increase effectiveness and reduce recovery times. Innovations like GammaTile make healthcare better.”
Christ Hospital Radiation Oncologist Cornelia McCluskey, MD, who treated the first patient alongside of Dr. Bohinski, explains further: “GammaTile is an option for radiation therapy treatment at the time of surgery. Utilizing this modality, minimal radiation affects the surgical site of closure and surrounding brain tissue, so wound healing is unimpaired. The radiation begins delivery immediately at the time of surgery and lasts for about a month. The tiles eventually absorb into the surgical site.”
More than 200,000 U.S. patients are diagnosed each year with an aggressive brain tumor. Aggressive brain tumors often resist current treatments and have a high likelihood of recurrence. GammaTile is FDA-cleared for patients with newly diagnosed malignant brain tumors and recurrent brain tumors, including gliomas, glioblastomas, meningiomas, and brain metastases. The postage-stamp-sized GammaTile, which is embedded with small radiation sources, is implanted in the last five minutes of brain tumor removal surgery. The radiation immediately begins targeting tumor cells in the area where the tumor is most likely to recur. Over time and after the radiation has been delivered, the tile naturally resorbs. GammaTile Therapy is shown to improve local tumor control, which can extend a patient’s life.
“Bringing breakthrough neurosurgical care innovations such as GammaTile to The Christ Hospital was a primary motivator in our collaboration with Mayfield Brain & Spine, which was enhanced earlier this year to include the development of a cranial program,” said Vic DiPilla, Vice President and Chief Business Development Officer at The Christ Hospital Health Network. “We’re thrilled to be able to provide cutting-edge treatments such as this to our patients.”
The previous standard of care for patients with operable brain tumors is surgical removal of the tumor followed by adjuvant therapy, including radiation and chemotherapy. Traditional radiation is delivered in as many as 30 treatments extending over a period of several weeks. This causes a substantial burden of treatment for patients and their caregivers alike. With GammaTile, patients receive treatment as they go about their daily lives. Additionally, GammaTile is a highly targeted therapy. When a therapeutic dose is delivered to the area most likely to have a recurrence, healthy tissue is spared. As a result, most patients avoid losing their hair during treatment.
“We are honored to be working with the brain tumor specialists at The Christ Hospital and Mayfield Brain & Spine to deploy GammaTile Therapy for the purpose of improving the lives of patients with brain tumors,” said Matt Likens, president and CEO of GT MedTech. “Patients deserve access to new treatments that can extend their lifespan while improving quality of life. We are excited to expand the availability of GammaTile Therapy to other leading brain tumor treatment centers across the U.S.”
About The Christ Hospital Health Network
The Christ Hospital Health Network is an acute care hospital locate in Mt. Auburn with a remote hospital location in Liberty Township, five ambulatory outpatient centers and dozens of offices conveniently located throughout the region. More than 1,300 talented physicians and more than 6,000 dedicated team members support the Network. Its mission is to improve the health of the community and to create patient value by providing exceptional outcomes and the finest experiences, all in an affordable way. The Network has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the #1 hospital in the Cincinnati Region and awarded Healthgrades “America’s 50 Best Hospitals” for being in the top 1% in the nation for providing the highest clinical quality year over year. It is also a Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award recipient, which recognizes top-performing healthcare organizations that achieve the 95th percentile or above of performance in patient experience. The Christ Hospital is among a select number of hospitals in the nation to be awarded Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence. For more than 130 years, The Christ Hospital has provided compassionate care to those it serves.
About Mayfield Brain & Spine:
Mayfield Brain & Spine is the full-service patient care provider of the Mayfield Clinic, one of the nation's leading physician organizations for neurosurgical treatment, education and research. We improve the lives of our patients through innovative preventive care, surgical interventions and rehabilitation. With more than 30 specialists in neurosurgery, interventional neuroradiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, pain management and physical therapy, Mayfield Brain & Spine treats 25,000 patients from more than 30 states in a typical year. Mayfield operates four patient care locations in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, and Mayfield physicians also care for patients at the Mayfield Spine Surgery Center in Cincinnati. Mayfield physicians specialize in the treatment of back and neck pain, sciatica, Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, NPH, epilepsy, brain and spinal tumors, stroke, moyamoya, brain aneurysms, Chiari malformation, scoliosis, kyphosis, facial pain, facial twitch, trauma, concussion, spinal cord injury and carpal tunnel. As leading innovators in their field, Mayfield physicians have pioneered surgical procedures and instrumentation that have revolutionized the medical art of neurosurgery for spinal diseases and disorders, brain tumors, and neurovascular diseases and disorders.
About GT Medical Technologies, Inc.
Driven to overcome the limitations of current treatments for brain tumors and raise the standard of care, a team of brain tumor specialists joined forces and formed GT Medical Technologies with a purpose of improving the lives of patients with brain tumors. GammaTile Therapy received FDA 510(k) regulatory clearance for the treatment of all types of recurrent brain tumors in July 2018. A second 510(k) regulatory clearance for the treatment of newly diagnosed malignant tumors was granted in January 2020. GammaTile is covered by Medicare and most private insurance. Extensive clinical expertise informed the design of GammaTile Therapy, and deep medical device experience guides the company. The company is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. For more information, visit https://www.gtmedtech.com/.
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