Agility, Elekta's Innovative Beam-Shaping Solution for Cancer Treatment, Ships Globally

ATLANTA, Oct. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In the last six months, cancer clinics in 21 countries have accepted delivery of Elekta's Agility™*, an innovative, ground-breaking 160-leaf multi-leaf collimator (MLC) that utilizes industry-leading technology to provide faster, more accurate, and more versatile radiation therapy for individuals with cancer.

Agility was recently introduced at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center (Nijmegen, Netherlands), where a 48-year-old woman, was treated on September 10.

"Our first use of Agility went perfectly – the high leaf speed of Agility has made beam delivery speed much faster, especially with IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy) plans," says Rene Monshouwer, Ph.D., Clinical Physicist at Radboud. "And, comparing the system with Agility to one without Agility, the leaf transmission is lower. Since we began, we have used Agility for 70 patients, encompassing a wide range of cancers throughout the body."

Monshouwer also noted that Agility's low transmission and high-resolution leaves will enable Radboud to use Agility in stereotactic treatments in the coming months.

Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center (Gresham, OR, USA) is the latest site to date to accept shipment of Agility, integrated in a newly acquired Elekta Infinity™ treatment system. According to Kathryn Panwala, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Legacy, she and her colleagues are eagerly anticipating the patient benefits Agility will bring.

"We're looking forward to the ability to use the five millimeter interdigitating leaves in Agility to allow us to sculpt the radiation dose even more precisely, reduce potential treatment complications and – by virtue of the MLC's low transmission – reduce unnecessary radiation exposure to normal tissues. We anticipate improved outcomes for our patients with our ability to accurately hypofractionate targets," she says. "We also are looking ahead to doing more complicated treatments at the Mount Hood facility with Agility – so SBRT and SRT cases that we had been sending to our downtown facility will be performed at Mount Hood, which is much more convenient for patients. Of course, we also expect treatment times will be faster with the higher speed of leaf movements."

Intelligent beam shaping
Among MLCs, Agility is in class by itself – combining leaf speeds that are twice as fast as conventional beam-shaping devices. The 160 leaves of Agility are 5 mm in width at isocenter and are capable of interdigitation to enable treatment of island fields and multiple targets in a single session. Rubicon optical leaf positioning technology improves accuracy and increases the reliability and seamlessness of beam shaping, and the exceptionally low leaf transmission of less than 0.5 percent enhances treatment delivery while reducing integral dose. The integrated whole results in a sophisticated, multi-functional beam-shaping solution.

Learn more about Agility at www.elekta.com/agility. 

*Agility is not available for sale or distribution in all markets. Please contact the local Elekta representative for details.

For further information, please contact:
Johan Andersson Melbi, Director, Investor Relations, Elekta AB
Tel: +46 702 100 451, email: [email protected]  
Time zone: CET: Central European Time

Michelle Joiner, Director, Global Public Relations and Brand Management, Elekta 
Tel: +1 770-670-2447, email: [email protected] 
Time zone: ET: Eastern Time

About Elekta
Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company develops sophisticated, state-of-the-art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy, radiosurgery and brachytherapy, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care. Stretching the boundaries of science and technology, providing intelligent and resource-efficient solutions that offer confidence to both healthcare providers and patients, Elekta aims to improve, prolong and even save patient lives. 

Today, Elekta solutions in oncology and neurosurgery are used in over 6,000 hospitals worldwide. Elekta employs around 3,400 employees globally. The corporate headquarters is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company is listed on the Nordic Exchange under the ticker EKTAb. Website: www.elekta.com.

SOURCE Elekta