Argus Software intends to design, develop and test a technically innovative software product utilizing results and documents developed in Phase that will significantly enhance users' abilities to improve the quality of patient care in Radiation Oncology, while at the same time reducing the time required for conducting QA procedures and writing reports that are required by regulatory agencies. The Phase II work will 1) implement and validate automated procedures for Quality Control of linear accelerators and Cobalt 60 radiation equipment. 2) develop two new modules for conducting Quality Assurance (QA) procedures for a) High Dose Rate (HDR) remote after loading brachytherapy and b) radiation therapy simulators; and 3) test and evaluate all modules in a variety of clinical settings. The Company is developing a prototype product which has been demonstrated in the clinical environment and intended market and will validate the feasibility of the concept. The thrust of the Phase II grant will be to develop prototype modules for radiation oncology QA and to conduct evaluation studies in the clinics.
Our specific aims are to develop automated procedures and databases that meet quality assurance requirements for a radiation oncology department and to evaluate the clinical impact of implementing a system that automates the testing, analysis and reporting of quality assurance procedures that are required for the safe administration of radiation therapy treatments.
With this class of software, there are potential commercial applications throughout both Radiation Oncology and Radiology departments. This includes quality assurance software for linear accelerators, simulators, brachytherapy, as well as QA databases for automating clinical trials. The company has developed a """"""""prototype"""""""" module as proof-of-principle of the feasibility of the approach and of its commercial potential.
