A hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, has initiated a clinical trial in which Calypso Medical Technologies' Beacon transponders were implanted into the lung to track lung tumors and focus radiotherapy on the moving tumors.

The internal surrogate trackers allow physicians to monitor the locations of the tumors in real time as they travel repetitively through the lungs, allowing clinicians to target the radiation beam directly at the tumors, minimizing irradiation of healthy lung tissue surrounding the tumor, Calypso said. According to the Seattle-based company, the radiotherapy technology could reduce complications and costs of treatment and thereby enable patients to undergo fuller doses of radiation treatment because of the reduced side effects from mitigated tissue damage.

Calypso's Beacon transponders are currently FDA-approved for implantation in the prostate, while the present study will look at the Beacons' more recent use for treating lung cancer.