Radiation & Brain Cancer | Likens & Achens | Game On Glio

Ep. 8: A Small Radiation Tile is Changing the Game in Brain Tumor Therapy-with Guests Matthew Likens and Shannan Achens

Gamma Tile Therapy targets tumor cells while preserving brain tissue. Surgically guided treatment of the local radiation dose to the operative bed optimizes the therapeutic margin while minimizing complications. Structural offset of the radiation source from the brain tissue prevents harmful direct seed-to-tissue contact and enables intraoperative adjustment. In essence, a small tile is inserted during a brain surgery and delivers precision radiation internally, directly to the tumor with minimal side effects! It breaks the blood brain barrier. How is this possible?

Matthew Likens, the President and CEO of GT Medical Technologies. He is an accomplished leader in the medical device industry. Prior to coming to GT Medical Technologies, he served as the president and chief executive officer of Ulthera, Inc. There, he led the startup from pre-commercialization to more than $100M in revenue and a $600M acquisition by Merz Pharma GmbH. However, his professional career began with Johnson & Johnson, before spending the bulk of his career at Baxter Healthcare Corporation. When he was given an opportunity to be in on the ground floor of cutting edge technology that could potentially extend brain cancer patients lives, he says, “I jumped at the chance. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.” He talks about why Gamma Tile is so important and why everyone should have it on their radar.

Our second guest, Shannan Achens is a medium grade 16 year Glioma survivor (grade 2/3). After having multiple surgeries with standard protocol treatments that included oral chemo, external beam radiation, she was ready to try something out of the box. She gave Gamma Tile therapy a try and her results are astonishing. She tells her story and how this treatment has helped her.