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"Precisely targeted irradiation of primary and metastatic disease sitesthroughout the brain and body -- delivered in a few or even a single treatmentsession -- is where stereotactic radiation-based cancer management is headedand this reflects our treatment philosophy at Wake Forest," says Edward Shaw,M.D., Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at WFUBMC. "To put thisphilosophy into action, we needed a solution capable of providing head-to-toestereotactic radiation treatments. We investigated the equipment of variousvendors and concluded that Elekta Axesse and Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexiontogether would offer the best total body solution for meeting all of ourcurrent and future stereotactic needs."
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Wake Forest, already a well-known Leksell Gamma Knife radiosurgery centerand growing body stereotactic radiosurgery provider, plans to begin treatingpatients on Elekta Axesse by the spring 2009 and the Leksell Gamma KnifePerfexion by the summer of 2009. In addition, Wake Forest has been designatedan Elekta Stereotactic Center of Excellence.
Elekta Axesse treats a wide spectrum of disease sites in the body
"Historically, patients with a solitary lung or liver metastasis, forexample, would have open surgery to remove the tumor, which requires severaldays of inpatient recovery," Dr. Shaw notes. "With Elekta Axesse, stereotacticbody radiosurgery can be done on an outpatient basis, providing a non-invasivealternative to surgery, when appropriate, eliminating the stress and lengthyconvalescence of open surgery."
Ideally suited for stereotactic radiosurgery or radiotherapy of the spineand body, the advanced 3D image guidance capability of Elekta Axessefacilitates rapid, precise targeting of tumors; and the robotic 6Dsub-millimeter patient positioning provides re-alignment of the patients atthe time of treatment. The result is a highly dose conformal radiationdelivery system that effectively treats tumors while minimizing exposure tonearby healthy tissue.
The integrated 3D-imaging of Elekta Axesse is a key-component according toWFUBMC physicist Carnell Hampton, Ph.D. "Imaging the tumor immediately priorto treatment sessions will assure us that we're hitting the target andavoiding normal tissues -- a great in-line quality assurance tool. I'mconfident we will achieve the treatment accuracy for these higher dosestereotactic treatments using Elekta Axesse."
Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion streamlines intracranial radiosurgery
With more than 325 Gamma Knife radiosurgery treatments per year, the WakeForest Gamma Knife program is among the busiest in the United States. WhenLeksell Gamma Knife Perfexion replaces its current Gamma Knife system as themain clinical radiosurgery unit, Wake Forest will boost yearly treatmentnumbers by adding several new treatment sites and expanding cases currentlytoo complex to treat, according to Dr. Shaw.
Due to a completely new design, Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion featuresextended reach, translating into much simpler access to lesions in skull baseand head and neck cancer sites, in addition to the orbits and upper cervicalspine, Dr. Shaw observes. "Perfexion will help us treat more patients per weekand more previously difficult-to-reach lesions," he says.
"Perfexion -- geared to streamline workflow through automatingradiosurgery planning and treatment -- will also allow our clinicians to treatmore patients in a given day, obviating the addition of treatment days andassociated neurosurgery and radiation oncology staff," says Stephen Tatter,M.D., Ph.D., Co-Director of the Wake Forest Gamma Knife Program and Professorof Neurosurgery at WFUBMC. "In complex radiosurgery cases, Perfexion willdramatically decrease treatment time to less than half of what is currentlypossible, enhancing patient comfort."
WFUBMC becomes an Elekta Stereotactic Center of Excellence
With the acquisition of Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion and Elekta Axesse,Elekta has designated WFUBMC an Elekta Stereotactic Center of Excellence.These centers are defined as regionally renowned and highly capable facilitiesthat operate Elekta's state-of-the-art radiosurgery systems to providepatients suffering from cancer and serious brain disorders with extraordinarytreatment.
Distinction as an Elekta Stereotactic Center of Excellence signifiesWFUBMC's willingness to share its clinicians' expertise in stereotacticmedicine with other cancer management professionals, Dr. Shaw says.
"Our mission as an academic medical center and as a teaching hospital isto train residents, medical students, and practicing physicians on the art andscience of medicine," he says. "Our center will be one of the first sites tohave both Elekta Axesse and Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion, a combination thatlets us deliver highly specialized treatments yet still benefit from economiesof scope. Physicists and radiation biologists at WFUBMC are anxious to teachabout the clinical practice, including the physics, and biology of total bodyradiosurgery.
"We believe there will be a growing list of indications for head-to-toeradiosurgery in the management of cancer," he continues, "and we actually seethe treatment of patients with either one or several sites of metastaticdisease with focal curative radiation as a way of improving both the cure ratefor cancer and our patients' quality of life."
About WFUBMC
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center ( www.wfubmc.edu ) is anacademic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, BrennerChildren's Hospital, Wake Forest University Physicians, and Wake ForestUniversity Health Sciences, which operates the university's School of Medicineand Piedmont Triad Research Park. The system comprises 1,154 acute care,rehabilitation and long-term care beds and has been ranked as one of"America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report since 1993. Wake ForestBaptist is ranked 32nd in the nation by America's Top Doctors for the numberof its doctors considered best by their peers. The institution ranks in thetop third in funding by the National Institutes of Health and fourth in theSoutheast in revenues from its licensed intellectual property.
About Elekta
Elekta is an international medical technology group, providingoncologists, radiation therapists, neurosurgeons and many other medicalspecialists with state-of-the-art tools to fight serious disease.
Elekta provides advanced clinical solutions and comprehensive managementand information systems, as well as services for improved cancer care andmanagement of brain disorders. Elekta's systems and solutions are used in morethan 5,000 hospitals around the world. Clinical and information managementsolutions include, among others, Leksell Gamma Knife(R) for non-invasivetreatment of brain disorders, Elekta Axesse(TM) and Elekta Synergy(R) forstereotactic and image guided radiation therapy and radiosurgery, as well asthe MOSAIQ(R) suite of software for image-enabled EMR and efficient managementof clinical and patient data.
With more than 2,500 employees globally, Elekta corporate headquarters arelocated in Stockholm, Sweden and the company is listed on the Nordic Exchangeunder the ticker EKTAb.
SOURCE Elekta, Inc.
