Philips: Auckland City Hospital enhances radiation treatment planning with philips pinnacle3 SmartEnterprise system

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For over 15 years, New Zealand’s largest public hospital and clinical research facility, Auckland City Hospital, used Philips Pinnacle system for radiation treatment planning. As part of the hospital’s continued commitment to delivering service excellence, Auckland City Hospital recently upgraded to the new Philips Pinnacle^³ SmartEnterprise system for a faster and more efficient distributed workflow.

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“Radiation treatment planning is a time-consuming process. With Philips Pinnacle^³ SmartEnterprise system, the turnaround time per iteration of planning reduced dramatically from as long as 45 minutes to approximately 5 to 10 minutes. In addition, the computing power of the system also enabled our team to retrieve large data sets without much lag and to work on multiple patient cases at one time,” commented Dr. Giuseppe Sasso, Clinical Director of the Radiation Oncology Department at the Northern Regional Cancer and Blood Services, Auckland City Hospital and Auckland District Health Board.
Using “thin client” connections with a fast refresh rate, Philips Pinnacle³ SmartEnterprise system improved contouring from any department within the hospital and reduced the amount of time spent by oncologists away from patients. With this powerful centralized computing system, the medical team at Auckland City Hospital found that they could better optimize radiation treatment planning workflow, work more efficiently, and create a better experience for patients.
“At Auckland City Hospital, we value innovation and effectiveness. Speed is fundamental to clinicians. With a good IT system like Philips Pinnacle^³ SmartEnterprise, it not only increases efficiency but also improves the quality of care for patients. By reducing the time spent per iteration on image contouring and planning, it gives us more time to interact with patients,” added Dr. Sasso.
Incredibly smart, unbelievably efficient
Philips Pinnacle^³ is a leading planning system trusted by customers in the region. Its fast, accurate and interactive treatment planning made it one of the leading radiation treatment planning systems in performance and reliability. The fully integrated photon, proton, electron, stereotactic, brachytherapy, simulation, image fusion, intensity modulated radiation therapy options and volumetric modulated arc therapy planning allows treatment planning tasks from a single platform.
Philips Pinnacle^³ is a vendor neutral therapy planning system that helps departments make decisions about the best delivery system and its centralized server solution has been very popular as it supports remote access from the clinic, physician’s office or home.
Its smart automation tools enable clinicians to generate high quality plans quickly and with limited user intervention. These plans can then be evaluated against agreed clinical goals using intuitive dashboards that provide ready information on plan quality to help facilitate consistency of treatments throughout the department. This enhanced capability allows clinicians to regulate patient changes over time in the treatment planning process.
“The scalability of Philips Pinnacle^³ SmartEnterprise system is virtually unlimited. It is one of Philips’ many advancements thanks to our long commitment in the field of radiation oncology and many close customer collaborations. These user partnerships are vital to helping us deliver continued satisfaction to both new users and our large installed base of loyal customers. With seven major releases in the past 4 years, we have pushed Pinnacle³ performance to the next level resulting in more speed, more flexible dose management, expanded planning modes and smart automation to drive consistent high quality care in comparison to our previous systems,” said Susan Wallace, General Manager, Radiation Oncology Systems at Philips Healthcare. “Through integration with advanced imaging solutions in radiation oncology,we plan to drive up both quality and efficiency to support better treatment experiences and outcomes for patients and healthcare providers”.
An Intuitive Planning Environment
Philips Pinnacle^³ SmartEnterprise system provides a scalable cost effective solution for therapy planning that is designed to make treatment and re-treatment adaptation feasible. Recent advances such as automation greatly assists with workflow and helps radiation oncology departments provide the best treatment possible for their patients.
The system provides a planning environment that simplifies workflow and is easily understandable with key features including scripting, plan modification and optimization and multi-desktop networking.
“At Philips, we are committed to improving lives through meaningful innovations. We are constantly working and co-innovating with customers and partners to deliver solutions that will directly address the challenges faced byclinicians on a daily basis,” added Susan.
A personal note from Susan Wallace, General Manager, Radiation Oncology Systems at Philips Healthcare
Philips Healthcare has a legacy of being at the forefront of Radiation Oncology advancements including 3D and 4D imaging and planning, intensity modulated radiation therapy with direct machine parameter optimization, SmartEnterprise centralized computing, autoplanning and MR simulation just to name a few. Advanced medical technologies are pivotal in creating a sustainable healthcare system, and only through co-innovation with customers and partners like you can we make a global impact inthe fight against cancer.
I’m heartened that Philips Pinnacle^³ SmartEnterprise system has brought about positive change within your organization and I thank you for your continued support and partnership over the years. I look forward to ongoing collaborations to deliver meaningful innovation in radiation oncology for a long time to come.
Philips
Toll Free Australia 1800 251 400 NZ 0800 251 400 Visit us at www.philips.com.au/healthcare Email healthcare.au@philips.com
Insight
Toll free AU 1800 228 118 NZ 0800 441 994 Visit us at www.insight.com.au Or Email info@insight.com.au

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Disclaimer: This disclaimer governs the content of the above article (“article”) in relation to Dr Giuseppe Sasso’s (“Dr Sasso”) comments about the use of the Philips Pinnacle³ SmartEnterprise System in Auckland City Hospital. By reading this article, you accept this disclaimer in full. The opinions and views created in this article are those of Dr Sasso’s and do not necessarily represent those of Philips. The information in this article is not advice, and should not be treated as such nor relied upon.