Leading European Health Centers to Improve Cranial Radiosurgery with Elekta's new Leksell Gamma Knife Icon

STOCKHOLM, July 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Three foremost medical centers in the United Kingdom and Germany have ordered and are now planning upgrades to Elekta's latest generation stereotactic radiosurgery system for the brain, Leksell Gamma Knife® Icon™, to provide the most advanced brain radiosurgery treatments for their patients. The centers are University Medical Centre Mannheim (UMC, Mannheim, Germany), Bristol Gamma Knife Centre, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (Bristol, UK) and The Leeds Gamma Knife Centre at St James's Institute of Oncology (Leeds, UK).

Leksell Gamma Knife Icon integrates advanced motion management, dose delivery and imaging technologies, enabling clinicians to treat a wider variety of tumor types and sizes. The system provides caregivers increased flexibility in how radiosurgery is delivered, by allowing doctors to choose either frame-based or frameless methods to immobilize the patient's head, in addition to the option to perform the treatment in a single session or multiple sessions. Icon also permits physicians to choose the degree of precision needed for each patient case - ranging from traditional high radiosurgery accuracy to ultra-precise microradiosurgery.

The ability to deliver multi-fraction Gamma Knife radiosurgery to spare organs-at-risk was important to clinicians at University Medical Centre Mannheim, according to Frederik Wenz, MD, Professor and Chairman, Department of Radiation Oncology at UMC.

"The steep dose gradients and mechanical stability offered by Gamma Knife Icon allow sparing of normal tissue adjacent to the target," he says. "In clinical situations with sensitive structures within the target volume, sparing of organs-at-risk can only be achieved by fractionation [i.e., multiple sessions]. By fractionating the dose, we can use Icon in many clinical scenarios in which the tumor is infiltrating normal tissue."

Prof. Wenz anticipates treating the first patients with Gamma Knife Icon in late August.

Dr. Alison Cameron, Clinical Lead for the Bristol Gamma Knife, says: "Icon will allow Bristol to offer an intracranial stereotactic service without any compromises. The system has the flexibility to ensure that the patient receives the level of radiosurgery that they require clinically, whilst optimizing their experience through flexibility in immobilization, scheduling and treatment. This will lead to increased efficiency with improved quality, a truly transformational service development."

The team in Bristol expect to treat the first patient in September.

At The Leeds Gamma Knife Centre, Paul Hatfield, MD, Consultant Clinical Oncologist, observes that the frameless immobilization and accurate intrafraction monitoring of patient position are particularly valuable features of Icon.

"These features will enable fractionated treatment for targets that would normally be too large to treat, or where dose reductions would typically be required, for safety reasons, that could potentially compromise treatment effect," Dr. Hatfield says. "The cone beam CT also will allow confirmation of setup, which is an important part of modern radiotherapy. All of these benefits combined will undoubtedly enhance the patient experience."

"The Leeds Gamma Knife Centre, as part of Nova Healthcare, has always been integrated within our busy radiotherapy and neuroscience department," adds Nick Phillips, MD, Consultant Neurosurgeon. "We operate as a close collaboration between oncology, neurosurgery, medical physics and radiographers. Our department is a leader in many stereotactic radiotherapy techniques and we are keen to push forward this technology in the United Kingdom."

The Gamma Knife Icon system is expected to be operational at The Leeds Gamma Knife Centre by the end of 2015.

For more information on Leksell Gamma Knife Icon, visit http://www.careforthebrain.com.

Leksell Gamma Knife Icon is pending FDA 510(k) clearance. 

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The above information is such that Elekta AB (publ) shall make public in accordance with the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was published at 07:30 CET on July 13, 2015.

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 health care 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 3,800 employees globally. The corporate headquarters is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company is listed on NASDAQ Stockholm. Website: http://www.elekta.com.

For further information, please contact:
Gert van Santen, Group Vice President Corporate Communications, Elekta AB
Tel: +31-653-561-242, e-mail: [email protected]
Time zone: CET: Central European Time

Johan Andersson, Director, Investor Relations, Elekta AB
Tel: +46-702-100-451, e-mail: [email protected]
Time zone: CET: Central European Time

SOURCE Elekta