U.K. Cancer Patient is World's First to Benefit from Treatment Combining Elekta's New Beam-shaping Innovation and High-speed Arc Therapy

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• Publié par: elekta-inc
• Nombre de lectures: 11
• Langue: English

Extrait

U.K. Cancer Patient is World's First to Benefit

from Treatment Combining Elekta's New Beam-

shaping Innovation and High-speed Arc

Therapy

PR Newswire

LEEDS, England, June 25, 2012

- St. James's University Hospital harnesses Elekta's Agility multileaf collimator

(MLC) and Elekta VMAT to treat patient with tongue cancer

LEEDS, England

,

June 25, 2012

/PRNewswire/ -- A 51-year-old male became the

first person to benefit from a radiation therapy technique that provides

exceptional precision and high-speed delivery. Clinicians at St. James's

University Hospital used Elekta's Agility™* multileaf collimator (MLC) and Elekta

Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) to treat the patient's tongue cancer.

The combination of the two innovations reduced the time it takes to deliver the

radiation beams from five minutes down to just two minutes.

Recently released for sale across

Europe

, and with 510(k) clearance in the U.S.,

Agility is Elekta's revolutionary new MLC. The device comprises many individual

tungsten leaves used to shape beams of radiation as therapeutic doses are

delivered from different angles around the patient. Agility's 160, five-millimeter

wide leaves are capable of traveling at twice the speed of those in a

conventional MLC, and provide a much-improved ability to conform to the

shape of tumors.

Elekta VMAT is an advanced radiation therapy technique that delivers

treatment in one or more continuous high-speed arcs around the patient,

enabling the radiation dose to precisely conform to a tumor by modulating the

radiation beam's intensity during gantry rotation. Clinicians can use Elekta

VMAT with complete or partial arc(s) to reduce treatment times substantially.

Elekta's Monaco® treatment planning system also contributed to the patient's

treatment by enabling much lower parotid (salivary gland) and larynx doses

than traditional plans the

Leeds

team had been producing.

"The oncologists are really pleased with the dose distributions, because they

predict fewer side effects for the patients," says John Lilley, physicist at St.

James's, part of The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. "This is very

important, because an excessive dose to the parotid gland can inhibit its

function, causing a dry mouth and making it difficult to taste food."

"The combination of planning with

Monaco

, VMAT and Agility means that the

treatment times are significantly reduced," he continues. "For this particular

tongue cancer patient, the VMAT delivery was three minutes quicker – two

minutes versus five minutes – than the regular conformal plan. This is very

important because the immobilization mask the patient wears for treatment

can be uncomfortable and reduced treatment times means less risk of patient

movement. Quicker treatment times make a big difference for us as well, as it

means we can schedule treatments to more patients per day."

St. James's research work with Agility was supported by Elekta and the Leeds

Teaching Hospitals Charitable Trustees

.

*Agility is not licensed for sale in all markets. Please contact your local

representative for details.

For further information, please contact:

Stina Thorman, Vice President Corporate Communications, Elekta AB

Tel: [phone], email: [e-mail]

Time zone: CET: Central European Time

Michelle Joiner, Director, Global Public Relations and Brand

Management, Elekta

Tel: [phone], email: [e-mail]

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 3,300 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.