Improved Accuracy for Localization of Radiotherapy Treatment to Drive the Demand for Fiducial Markers
15 to 20 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed every year. Radiotherapy is the gold standard for treatment and is used on more than 3.5 million people and provided as palliative or adjunct treatment for an additional 3.5 million people, worldwide. Nearly 50 percent of all cancer patients are estimated to benefit from radiotherapy for disease management. Radiotherapy is used in cancers that are localized; it can provide excellent control with no recurrence in the treated area. Radiotherapy is also frequently used in combination with surgery or chemotherapy.
As radiotherapy is a more cost-effective cancer treatment modality, expanding the services of radiotherapy is necessary for providing effective treatment strategies for cancer across care settings. Delivery of radiotherapy with high accuracy and precision - to reduce injury to normal tissues - is the need of the hour. Fiducial markers enable providers to accurately locate tumor lesions and deliver localized and targeted radiotherapy with higher accuracy. Implantation of gold fiducial markers is a cost-effective method. Complications from fiducial marker implantation are not common. Migration of implanted markers is rare and clinically insignificant. Fiducial markers are now considered the standard of care in the delivery of modern prostate RT, and their use is recommended, especially at dose escalation. Fiducials are an excellent surrogate for the prostate position and allow for accurate treatment delivery and minimize the effect of radiation on surrounding organs. The main purpose of using fiducial markers is to increase treatment precision were tracking a tumor is difficult. Fiducial markers are commonly used in prostate and lung cancer and are still in the early stages of being used in the treatment of breast, liver and pancreatic cancer.
Lack of clarity on reimbursement, patient selection, lack of training and skill set, and adoption of CBCT are the main challenges to widespread adoption of fiducial markers. On the other hand, easy implantation, low cost, the potential for use in future diagnostic purpose, and well-established clinical evidence serve as major driving factors. The research service provides an end-user and market perspective for the use of fiducial markers in the US and Europe and provides a five-year forecast from 2017 to 2022. The unique value of this study is that it provides insights gathered from more than 150 end users, including oncologists, interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, urologists, and pulmonologists. The key applications covered in the report include breast cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer. In-depth analysis is provided for prostate and lung cancer.
