ELEKTA INSTALLS BREAKTHROUGH TREATMENT PLATFORM AT THOMAS JEFFERSON
UNIVERSITY IN PHILADELPHIA, USA
Cancer treatment leader becomes 5th in world to acquire Elekta SynergyTM
research platform system featuring on-board X-ray Volume Imaging (XVI)
In the spring of 2004, Elekta will complete installation of an Elekta
SynergyTM research platform system at Thomas Jefferson University's
(TJU), Bodine Cancer Center, making the university the fifth institution
worldwide to site this innovative new treatment platform. Elekta has
officially appointed Thomas Jefferson University as a member of the
Elekta SynergyTM research group, joining William Beaumont Hospital
(Royal Oak, Michigan, USA), Princess Margaret Hospital (Toronto,
Ontario, Canada), Christie Hospital (Manchester, U.K.), and the
Netherlands Cancer Institute (Amsterdam, the Netherlands).
Equipped with an advanced X-ray Volume kilovoltage imaging system (XVI)
and flat-panel AmSi detector technology, the Elekta SynergyTM research
platform system provides sophisticated imaging capabilities with the
patient in the treatment position. The Elekta X-ray Volume Imaging
concept and prototype was developed in 1997 in collaboration with Elekta
clinical partner, William Beaumont Hospital. The concept and prototype
of X-ray Volume Imaging has been further developed by Elekta into a
product which is part of the Elekta SynergyTM system and will make its
debut on October 19, 2003 at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American
Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, ASTRO in Salt Lake City,
Utah, USA.
"Elekta SynergyTM system with XVI is the wave of the future," says James
Galvin, D.Sc., Director of Medical Physics at Thomas Jefferson
University. "Because the patient is imaged within the treatment system's
frame of reference, we can obtain much more timely and accurate
knowledge of target position just prior to treatment, thereby minimizing
the impact of set-up error and organ motion."
"We are very pleased that Thomas Jefferson University - a long-time
clinical partner - has once again chosen to invest in the future of
radiation oncology," says Peter J. Gaccione, Vice President, Oncology at
Elekta, Inc. "By acquiring Elekta SynergyTM research platform system,
the clinicians and scientists there have demonstrated that they share
our vision that radiotherapy can be transformed into a much more precise
and effective treatment modality."
Thomas Jefferson University is preparing and securing funding for their
first Elekta SynergyTM system research proposals - studies of patients
with prostate or head and neck cancers.
Elekta SynergyTM system is pending 510(k) premarket clearance and is not
currently available for sale or distribution in the USA.
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