National Television to Feature BSD Medical and Hyperthermia
National Television to Feature BSD Medical and Hyperthermia
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- BSD Medical Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board: BSDM) announced today an upcoming national CNBC airing of a broadcast featuring BSD Medical Corporation and Hyperthermia. The program will be featured on the Emmy award-winning series, "Today's Health," discusses how Hyperthermia can enhance existing therapies such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and biological therapies, and how this innovative treatment can bring new hope and improved survival for people suffering from cancer.
In introducing Hyperthermia, broadcast journalist and show host Faith Daniels states, "The struggle against cancer requires our best and brightest innovations. Hyperthermia is another powerful treatment that gives us one more weapon against the second leading cause of death in America. This promising therapy uses focused heat, and the result may be widespread hope."
The program (which will air coast-to-coast on CNBC Sunday, February 20th at 1:30 p.m. Eastern; 12:30 p.m. Central, 11:30 a.m. Mountain and 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time) draws on the clinical experience and insights of medical experts around the world. Dr. Gerard van Roon of Rotterdam says, "The power of Hyperthermia is that it increases the effect of conventional techniques such as radiotherapy (radiation) or chemotherapy. Besides enhancing the effects, it has no toxicity, so it does not harm the patient." Regarding this increased effect, Dr. Clare Vernon from London states, "Hyperthermia trials are consistently showing a 20-30% improvement on the treatment results we had before, and that is such a big improvement." Speaking on the clinical applications of Hyperthermia, Dr. Ajmel Puthawala of Long Beach Memorial Hospital said, "Head and neck cancers, breast cancers, some pelvic cancers like prostate cancer and gynecologic cancers are the sites that can be treated well with Hyperthermia."
The program demonstrates the BSD-2000, explaining that "the treatment of cancer using Hyperthermia relies on advanced equipment, like the BSD-2000 developed by BSD Medical Corporation. The BSD-2000 can precisely deliver heat treatments into the malignant region without harming healthy tissue." Dr. Steven Stroup of Nashville explains BSD-2000 treatment planning. "You take a look at the body in sections," he says, "like we do with CT scans or MRI scans, and you can study, three dimensionally, the tumor in the normal tissue. Then you do planning. You do mock computerized setups of heating and look at heating patterns in those patients. That gives you an ability to plan your heating deposition and steer that heating to exactly where you want it."
Regarding further sophistication of the BSD-2000, a pre-broadcast press release from Five Star Productions states, "Much of BSD Medical's equipment has already received FDA approval, and the company continues to aggressively advance the state-of-the-art of Hyperthermia treatment with new equipment. The new BSD-2000-3D/MR, for example, combines the high technology concepts of 3-D heating pattern shaping, 3-D patient-specific treatment planning and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)."
Hyrum Mead, President of BSD Medical Corporation said, "the timing of this broadcast is perfect. We have scarcely announced receipt of the CE Mark for the BSD-2000, and now the product is being given national exposure through a CNBC airing. From a marketing perspective, the CE Mark provides in Europe the same advantage as an FDA approval in the United States." We have obtained rights to reproduction and distribution of this program and feel that it has great potential for use both in the United States and abroad.
Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward looking statements, as that item is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties (detailed in the Company's findings with the Securities and Exchange Commission) that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimated results.
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SOURCE: BSD Medical Corporation
CONTACT: Paul F. Turner of BSD Medical Corporation, 801-972-5555, fax, 801-972-5930, investor@bsdmc.com
Duke University Studies Define the Therapeutic Role of Hyperthermia
Duke University Studies Define the Therapeutic Role of Hyperthermia
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- BSD Medical Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board: BSDM) today announced that recently published Duke University research explains the important therapeutic role of hyperthermia to the medical community. "We have a library of literature demonstrating that hyperthermia works," commented Hyrum Mead, President of BSD Medical Corporation, "but the Duke studies show why hyperthermia is so effective in improving results from radiation and chemotherapy." The Duke report (as published in Int. J. Radiation Oncology Biol Phys, Nov. 1999) explains, "Hyperthermia has a long history and well-established rationale as adjuvant therapy for cancer in combination with radiation and/or chemotherapy. The clinical efficacy of hyperthermia has been reported in a number of Phase II trials and more recently in several Phase III studies in breast cancer, head and neck cancer, melanomas, cervical cancer, and central nervous system (CNS) malignancies."
The Duke study notes that some positive trials had been previously reported, including "the improved tumor oxygenation that appears to result from hyperthermia." According to a Duke University press release last April, "high oxygen levels are crucial for effective radiation therapy... because radiation kills tumor cells by forming oxygen radicals-highly reactive oxygen atoms that damage DNA." Further, the press release states that the effectiveness of chemotherapy can be hampered by low blood flow level, otherwise "the drugs might not be delivered efficiently throughout the tumor." While low oxygen levels, called "hypoxia," are known to exist in certain tumors, researchers were surprised to find in animal studies that "no tumor had stable oxygen levels." In fact "60 percent of their measurements demonstrated acute hypoxia."
This propensity to hypoxia in tumors explains why heat can be so damaging, as tumors frequently lack the blood supply system needed to efficiently dissipate heat, as compared to normal tissue. As a natural physiological reaction to heat, hyperthermia is known to induce increased blood flow response (as well as the tumor can respond). Blood flow in turn provides oxygenation, which is critical to the effectiveness of radiation therapy because radiation kills tumor cells by forming oxygen radicals. Further, chemotherapy depends on blood flow to deliver the drug efficiently throughout the tumor. As our understanding of cellular biology increases, the important place of hyperthermia as an adjunct to the primary cancer therapies is becoming more evident.
BSD Medical Corporation [BSDM] is the leading developer and manufacturer of hyperthermia systems for cancer therapy, and pioneered the non-surgical treatment of benign diseases of the prostate using microwave energy. For information on the Company, or to find hyperthermic oncology information sources and treatment centers, please visit the BSD Medical Corporation web site (www.bsdmc.com).
Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward looking statements, as that item is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties (detailed in the Company's findings with the Securities and Exchange Commission) that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimated results.
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SOURCE: BSD Medical Corporation
CONTACT: Hyrum A. Mead of BSD Medical Corporation, 801-972-5555, fax 801-972-5930, investor@bsdmc.com
Duke University Reports Progress in Treating Sarcomas with BSD Equipment
SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- BSD Medical Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board: BSDM) today announced encouraging progress at Duke University in treating soft tissue sarcomas using the BSD-2000 Hyperthermia system. Soft tissue sarcomas are cancerous tumors located in muscle, fat or lymphatic tissue mostly situated in the lower pelvis and/or the upper part of the extremities. The Duke study was published in the Nov. 1999 issue of Int. J. Radiation Oncology Biol Phys and involved 97 patients with high-grade soft tissue sarcomas who were non-responding to standard therapy.
Soft tissue sarcomas are "a formidable therapeutic challenge," killing "about 50% of patients with high-grade tumors." The primary therapeutic goals are to remove the tumor surgically, achieve "local regional control" of the tumor area and prevent metastasis.
The Duke report explains, "Hyperthermia has a long history and well-established rationale as adjuvant therapy for cancer in combination with radiation and/or chemotherapy. The clinical efficacy of hyperthermia has been reported in a number of Phase II trials and more recently in several Phase III studies in breast cancer, head and neck cancer, melanomas, cervical cancer, and central nervous system (CNS) malignancies." Further, "numerous clinical trials of hyperthermia, particularly in accessible superficial tumors have demonstrated an increased response rate and in some instances a survival benefit with the combination of radiation and hyperthermia compared with radiation alone." Regarding the study rationale, the report states that "Hyperthermia was given approximately 1 hour after radiation utilizing radio-frequency (RF) annular phased arrays driven and controlled by the BSD-2000. This system has phase and amplitude control among array antennas allowing the RF power to be regionally focused at depth in the tumor volume."
The positive conclusion of the Duke University study is that through combined hyperthermia and radiation treatments (called "thermoradiotherapy"), "excellent local control, particularly for extremity tumors has indeed been accomplished, with a 10-year actuarial local control of 94% for this latter group." For patients "with a variety of nonextremity sites, actuarial local control at 10 years was 63%." The Duke study states: "In general, excellent local control has been achieved. Distant metastases, however, remain a formidable problem."
BSD Medical is currently supporting a Phase III clinical trial using the BSD-2000 system for hyperthermia and chemotherapy treatment of soft sarcomas with the objectives of eliminating amputation and increasing long-term survival. This trial, which also involves Duke University, is being sponsored by the EORTC (European Oncology and Radiation Therapy Committee), the Brussels (Belgium) based European equivalent of the RTOG and most authoritative European control organization of oncology related clinical trials.
BSD Medical Corporation [BSDM] is the leading developer and manufacturer of hyperthermia systems for cancer therapy, and pioneered the non-surgical treatment of benign diseases of the prostate using microwave energy. For information on the Company, or to find hyperthermic oncology information sources and treatment centers, please visit the BSD Medical Corporation web site (www.bsdmc.com).
Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are forward looking statements, as that item is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties (detailed in the Company's findings with the Securities and Exchange Commission) that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimated results.
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SOURCE: BSD Medical Corp.
CONTACT: Hyrum A. Mead of BSD Medical Corp., 801-972-5555, Fax: 801-972-5930, investor@bsdmc.com
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