Leo Cancer Care licenses Stanford Medicine-designed AVATAR audio-visual system for future use in pediatric radiotherapy treatments

The AVATAR device (Audio Visual Therapeutic Ambience in/for Radiotherapy), developed by Stanford Medicine, is an immersive audio-visual distraction tool created to engage and calm children whilst they receive their radiotherapy treatment for cancer.
Currently, many pediatric patients receive treatment in a supine position under general anesthesia to make sure they are still for the duration of treatment to ensure their safety and the accuracy of their treatment. Globally, there is a significant push to minimize the use of daily anesthesia by introducing distraction-based techniques that technology like AVATAR supports.
Initial research using the radiolucent AVATAR device yielded results that showed a significant reduction in the need for anesthesia, especially in younger age groups, reduced total treatment times and lower levels of anxiety amongst patients (Schulz et al. 2024).

Upright Radiotherapy

Leo Cancer Care is committed to changing the experience of radiotherapy for those who need it. They have pioneered a new model for radiotherapy positioning and imaging — with all solutions delivered in the upright position, enabling patients to be seated or perched rather than lying down. This approach has the potential to reduce the size and complexity of treatment technology while improving patient comfort and engagement, findings shared by Boisbouvier et al (2022).
Leo Cancer Care hypothesizes that upright positioning, which allows for eye-to-eye contact throughout the setup process, will allow children and young adults to feel less like passive participants and more like active partners in their care, which is especially valuable when attempting to ease anxiety in children undergoing treatment.

Stanford Health Care has already installed Leo Cancer Care’s upright positioning and imaging technology within their Mevion S250-FIT Proton Therapy system.

Future Research Commitment

This exciting collaboration brings with it the opportunity for Leo Cancer Care to collaboratively explore, with its users, the combined use of upright treatment positioning, AVATAR, and other distraction techniques through further research, to enhance care experiences for the youngest and most vulnerable patients.

Dr. Lawrie Skinner Clinical Association Professor, Radiation Oncology at Stanford Medicine says: “We are thrilled to collobarate with LEO Cancer Care to integrate our AVATAR systems, which, to date, have demonstrated a reduction in anesthesia needs in conventional supine treatments. This collaboration will significantly improve access to cutting-edge pediatric cancer care.”

Stephen Towe CEO and founder of Leo Cancer Care shares these thoughts: “Leo Cancer Care is defining a new, more patient-centric paradigm in radiation oncology and paediatric care is really at the heart of that. We believe that, by creating a more engaging and immersive environment, we can use the power of imagination present in all children to reduce anxiety and really question the use of general anaesthesia in the treatment room. We are delighted to take this technology forward as part of a bold new vision for young cancer patients”.

*Regulatory Status:
Please note: Leo Cancer Care’s upright positioning technology and Stanford’s AVATAR system are not yet clinically available for routine patient use.

References

Boisbouvier S, Boucaud A, Tanguy R, Grégoire V. Upright patient positioning for pelvic radiotherapy treatments. Tech Innov Patient Support Radiat Oncol. 2022 Nov 28;24:124-130. doi: 10.1016

Schulz JB, Zalavari L, Gutkin P, Jiang A, Wang YP, Gibson C, Garza A, Bush KK, Wang L, Donaldson SS, Loo BW, Hiniker SM, Skinner L. AVATAR 2.0: next level communication systems for radiotherapy through face-to-face video, biofeedback, translation, and audiovisual immersion. Front Oncol. 2024 Oct 8;14:1405433. doi: 10.3389