The effects of a lackluster worldwide economy resulted in a mediocre financial report from Ion Beam Applications (IBA) of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, in the first quarter (end-March 31).
Overall sales increased 50% in the first quarter due to 3% internal growth, with 47% of new revenue coming from IBA's acquisition of Cisbio on June 1, 2008.
IBA also posted a small net loss, primarily due to miscellaneous additional costs arising from the Cisbio deal, the lack of equipment segment orders, and an increase in financial expenses.
After four years of annual 26% growth in its proton therapy and particle accelerator business, equipment sales dropped 3% in the first quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. Dosimetry sales fell approximately 11% compared to the first quarter of 2008, while Cisbio contributed to sales growth of approximately 155% in the pharmaceutical sector.
IBA also signed a contract to build a proton therapy center in Prague, Czech Republic. The center will have four treatment rooms, consisting of three gantries and one fixed-beam room, and will be operated by Proton Therapy Center Czech.
The contract, which includes a long-term service and maintenance agreement, is scheduled for completion in three years, with the first patient treatments in 2012.
Related Reading
FDA clears proton positioning system, April 29, 2009
IBA sells Cyclone 30 in Germany, March 25, 2009
IBA inks pact with Eczacıbaşı-Monrol, February 9, 2009
IBA gets FDA nod for pencil-beam scanning, December 19, 2008
IBA opens Dallas PET facility, December 17, 2008
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![Overview of the study design. (A) The fully automated deep learning framework was developed to estimate body composition (BC) (defined as subcutaneous adipose tissue [SAT] in liters; visceral adipose tissue [VAT] in liters; skeletal muscle [SM] in liters; SM fat fraction [SMFF] as a percentage; and intramuscular adipose tissue [IMAT] in deciliters) from MRI. The fully automated framework comprised one model (model 1) to quantify different BC measures (SAT, VAT, SM, SMFF, and IMAT) as three-dimensional (3D) measures from whole-body MRI scans. The second model (model 2) was trained to identify standardized anatomic landmarks along the craniocaudal body axis (z coordinate field), which allowed for subdividing the whole-body measures into different subregions typically examined on clinical routine MRI scans (chest, abdomen, and pelvis). (B) BC was quantified from whole-body MRI in over 66,000 individuals from two large population-based cohort studies, the UK Biobank (UKB) (36,317 individuals) and the German National Cohort (NAKO) (30,291 individuals). Bar graphs show age distribution by sex and cohort. BMI = body mass index. (C) After the performance assessment of the fully automated framework, the change in BC measures, distributions, and profiles across age decades were investigated. Age-, sex-, and height-adjusted body composition reference curves were calculated and made publicly available in a web-based z-score calculator (https://circ-ml.github.io).](https://img.auntminnieeurope.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/05/body-comp.XgAjTfPj1W.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
