CMS APPROVES PAYMENT CODE FOR BREAST CANCER RADIATION TREATMENT

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved reimbursement for Implant Sciences' Ytterbium-169 (Yb-169) treatment effective Oct. 1.

With the CMS payment code in place and FDA 510(k) premarket clearance received earlier this year, the company is moving to market the treatment. The commercial ramp-up is planned for the first half of 2006.

Accelerated partial breast irradiation, which uses a radioactive source temporarily placed in the cavity where a tumor has been removed, like the Yb-169 radioactive source, is gaining in popularity due to a shorter treatment time of four to five days and reduction of collateral tissue and organ damage that may be experienced by undergoing external beam radiation.

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