RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Physicians are now able to successfully implant a new bio-absorbable, internal radiation treatment known as CivaSheet® to treat a patient with recurrent lung cancer. Approximately 234,000 patients per year in the U.S. are diagnosed with lung cancer, and of those, approximately 30% to 55% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer develop recurrence.

In March 2018, a team of experts at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) completed the procedure. A post-operative dosimetry study showed the radiation was effectively delivered in a simple surgical procedure that can effectively provide an ideal dose directly to the surgical margin in a one-time therapy. No complications or radiation related side effects have been reported. MSK physicians performed a second lung implant using a CivaSheet® last week.

Designed and manufactured by Civatech Oncology, CivaSheet® is a flexible, implantable intra-operative radiation therapy device (brachytherapy), which emits unidirectional radiation by integrating gold shielding into the CivaSheet. The unidirectional property makes the device active on one side to provide a homogenous radiation dose. This is entirely unique to CivaSheet®. Physicians can now safely deliver aggressive radiation doses immediately adjacent to healthy, sensitive tissue. Radiation is delivered as the isotope naturally decays over the course of several weeks – no repeated hospital trips are needed for radiation therapy. No follow-up procedure is necessary to remove the device.

The implantation of CivaSheet® occurs following a tumor resection from the lung. In a 15-minute operating room procedure, the surgical team cuts the CivaSheet® to fit and affixes it to the area they want to treat. CivaSheet® delivers a highly-targeted radiation dose to the immediate area where residual cancer cells potentially remain.

CivaSheet has broad FDA clearance to include lung cancer and many other malignancies. A NIH/NCI Fast-Track grant award, value of up to $2.3M, is in place to fund a multi-institutional research protocol to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the CivaSheet when used to treat lung cancer.