Non-Invasive Treatment Alternative will be Centerpiece to Expansion of Radiation Oncology Facility SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 24
SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Accuray Incorporated
(Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, today announced
that St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston has purchased a CyberKnife(R)
Robotic Radiosurgery System to further expand treatment offerings for its
nationally recognized NeuroScience Center program. The CyberKnife System will
be installed in a newly constructed facility designed to expand the hospital's
radiation oncology facility.
St. Luke's has been ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the
nation's top 50 hospitals for a number of specialties, including neurology and
neurosurgery. It is the only hospital in Houston, and only one of four
hospitals in Texas, to be named a Neuroscience Center of Excellence by
NeuStrategy, Inc.
"The addition of the CyberKnife System to our tools will further
strengthen our position as a provider of innovative, comprehensive and high
quality care," said Youssef G. Comair, M.D., FRCSC at St. Luke's. "When we
surveyed our physicians about what new technology was needed to serve our
community, they overwhelmingly believed that the CyberKnife System was the
best option for our patient population. The CyberKnife System is truly a
revolutionary device that will enable us to give patients a non-surgical
alternative for treatment of cancer or other conditions affecting the nervous
system."
St. Luke's will use the CyberKnife System primarily to treat vascular
malformations and intracranial tumors, but it will give the hospital
flexibility to treat tumors in the spine, lung, prostate, kidney and pancreas
as well. Because the CyberKnife System combines robotics and sophisticated
real-time imaging technology, it is capable of delivering high doses of
radiation to tumors anywhere in the body with sub-millimeter accuracy. These
capabilities eliminate the need for invasive head and body frames, which other
systems require to immobilize the patient for tumor tracking. The robotic arm
also enables the system to target tumors that are unreachable by other
radiosurgery systems or surgery. As a result, the CyberKnife System offers new
hope to patients who are considered inoperable, have surgically complex
tumors, or are seeking an alternative to surgery.
"St. Luke's is renowned for its commitment to the highest standards of
neurological and neurosurgical patient care," said Euan S. Thomson, Ph.D.,
president and CEO of Accuray. "We are pleased to be working with them to offer
their patients a non-invasive alternative to brain surgery and other cancer
treatments."
About the CyberKnife(R) Robotic Radiosurgery System
The CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System is the world's only robotic
radiosurgery system designed to treat tumors anywhere in the body
non-invasively. Using continual image guidance technology and computer
controlled robotic mobility, the CyberKnife System automatically tracks,
detects and corrects for tumor and patient movement in real-time throughout
the treatment. This enables the CyberKnife System to deliver high-dose
radiation with pinpoint precision, which minimizes damage to surrounding
healthy tissue and eliminates the need for invasive head or body stabilization
frames.
About Accuray
Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a
global leader in the field of radiosurgery dedicated to providing an improved
quality of life and a non-surgical treatment option for those diagnosed with
cancer. Accuray develops and markets the CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery
System, which extends the benefits of radiosurgery to include extracranial
tumors, including those in the spine, lung, prostate, liver and pancreas. To
date, the CyberKnife System has been used to treat more than 40,000 patients
worldwide and currently more than 130 systems have been installed in leading
hospitals in the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit
www.accuray.com.
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SOURCE Accuray Incorporated