Spectrum Health to Offer Innovative Treatment Using Electrical Fields for Aggressive Brain Tumors

Treatment provides an additional option to surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy for patients of glioblastoma multiforme

Spectrum Health announces a new treatment option for patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and most aggressive recurring malignant primary brain tumor in humans.

The Brain & Spine Tumor Center is now offering Tumor Treating Fields (TTF) therapy, a fourth treatment option for the disease, in addition to surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. The innovative therapy uses electrical fields to disrupt the rapid cell division of glioblastoma cancer cells.

“The therapy addresses the unique characteristics of cancer cells such as their shape and rate of division by applying alternating electric fields to change the cells’ polarity,” said Wendy J. Sherman, M.D., medical director Neuro-oncology, co-director The Brain and Spine Tumor Center, Spectrum Health Medical Group. “This is a promising new treatment option for patients with aggressive brain tumors.”

According to the National Cancer Institute, brain and other nervous system cancers struck more than 23,000 people in the United States in 2013 and killed more than 14,000.

NovoTTF TM Therapy, developed by the international oncology company, Novocure, works by creating alternating, “wave-like” electric fields that travel across the upper region of the brain in different directions. Because structures within dividing cells have an electric charge, they interact with these electric fields. As the electric fields cross the brain, they may stop some cancer cells from dividing and may also cause some of them to die.

The therapy delivers treatment through ceramic discs within an adhesive bandage called “transducer arrays.” The transducer arrays are placed directly on the scalp in a way that targets the tumor and covers the head. The transducer arrays connect to a portable device that sends alternating electric fields directly into the tumor.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved therapy using the NovoTTF-100A System TM in 2011. Based on the results of clinical trials supporting that approval, overall survival with the system was comparable to that seen with active best standard of care chemotherapy for the treatment of recurrent GBM.

The FDA noted a slightly higher incidence of neurological adverse events in the NovoTTF-100A treated group (43.1%) compared to the best standard of care chemotherapy group (36.3%). However, NovoTTF-100A-treated patients experienced a lower frequency of adverse events seen with chemotherapy such as, gastrointestinal, hematological and infectious adverse events. Additionally, quality of life surveys indicated an improved quality of life in the NovoTTF-100A recurrent GBM patients compared to those receiving recurrent GBM best standard of care.

The therapy is currently offered throughout the United States at more than 100 certified treatment centers in more than 30 states. In Michigan, the two existing treatment centers are located far from West Michigan patients in the Detroit area and in the Upper Peninsula.

“Spectrum Health continues to provide the region’s most advanced treatment options, including new and emerging therapies and protocols that are otherwise unavailable,” said Seth W. Wolk, MD, interim president, Spectrum Health Medical Group. “This innovative therapy provides yet another avenue for meeting patient needs, and the fully integrated approach of The Brain & Spine Tumor Center allows patients to remain closer to home, family and community support systems.”

The Brain & Spine Tumor Center patient clinics are located in the Spectrum Health Medical Group Neurosurgery offices, 25 Michigan Street NE, Suite 6100, in Grand Rapids. For referrals and consultations, call 616.267.7900. For more information, visit the website.

The NovoTTF™-100A System is intended as a treatment for adult patients (22 years of age or older) with histologically-confirmed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), following histologically- or radiologically-confirmed recurrence in the supra-tentorial region of the brain after receiving chemotherapy. The device is intended to be used as a monotherapy, and is intended as an alternative to standard medical therapy for GBM after surgical and radiation options have been exhausted.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system, based in West Michigan, offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of 11 hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital; 170 ambulatory and service sites; 1,050 employed physicians and advanced practice providers including members of the Spectrum Health Medical Group; and Priority Health, a 575,000-member health plan. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with 21,000 employees. The organization provided $250 million in community benefit during its 2013 fiscal year.