IGS firm wins patent lawsuit

BrainLAB, a developer of image-guided surgery (IGS) and stereotactic radiosurgery systems, has prevailed in its patent battle with Nomos. BrainLAB announced Feb. 9 that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC, has upheld a lower court ruling that BrainLAB's ExacTrac product does not infringe U.S. patent 5,411,026 for Nomos' BAT ultrasound-based target locating device. ExacTrac is BrainLAB's patient positioning system for the treatment of tumors with stereotactic radiotherapy/radiosurgery. The system's ultrasound localization allows a daily verification of the position of organs, such as the prostate or liver, which improves the precision of radiotherapy by allowing adjustments for shifts in organ position.