At 76, Julius Muller of Fairfield says he’s grateful to be active and in good health, particularly after two months of outpatient radiation treatments for prostate cancer this fall. Muller is one of the first Bridgeport Hospital patients to benefit from the innovative Calypso System, a radiation therapy guidance system also known as GPS for the Body.

“I never had a setback during my therapy and fatigue wasn’t a problem,” says Muller, a retired mechanical engineer who now enjoys working in the yard with his wife and fixing lawnmowers and other household machinery for his friends and neighbors.

Developed by Seattle-based Calypso Medical Systems (www.calypsomedical.com), the new system relies on continuous, organ-motion detection and monitoring. Its key feature is the Beacon electromagnetic transponder. Three of the transponders, each the size of a small grain of rice, are implanted in the patient’s prostate before radiation therapy begins.

The transponders communicate with the Calypso system to continuously locate the tumor target and monitor its movement during each radiation treatment. There is currently no other technology available that provides an accurate, continuous, real-time means of locating, monitoring and tracking the tumor at all times.

“GPS for the Body significantly increases the certainty that the tumor target is accurately and precisely aligned with the radiation beam during every patient treatment,” says Bridgeport Hospital radiation oncologist Bruce McGibbon, MD. “In this way, we can administer higher doses of radiation to the tumor while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue. This improves the likelihood of successful treatment.”

More than 1.3 million cancer patients receive radiation treatment annually in the United States. Organ motion, which naturally occurs as a result of normal body physiology—such as bladder filling—may cause the prostate to move slightly, potentially compromising the precise delivery of radiation during treatment.

The Calypso System enables physicians to detect the slightest tumor movement in real-time so extremely accurate radiation therapy can be delivered. As a result, damage to healthy surrounding organs and tissue is minimized. In addition, side effects, such as urinary urgency or frequency and impotence are greatly reduced.

The Calypso System has also been cleared by the FDA for post-prostatectomy patients at risk of or diagnosed with recurrent prostate cancer. Studies indicate up to 20 percent of prostatectomy patients are diagnosed with recurrent prostate cancer following surgery and require adjuvant radiation therapy.

Muller adds his personal endorsement to the Calypso system. “I’d recommend it to anyone who needs radiation therapy,” he says. “It’s a fantastic system.”

The Norma F. Pfriem Cancer Institute, approved with commendation by the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer as a teaching hospital cancer program, provides care to over 1,000 newly-diagnosed cancer patients each year, more than any other hospital in Fairfield County. The Cancer Institute recently launched a major renovation that includes a new, more centrally located Dr. Richard W. Kmetzo Cancer Resource Center and a modernized Outpatient Chemotherapy Infusion Suite.