ELEKTA’S ADVANCED SOLUTIONS FOR RADIATION THERAPY NOW AVAILABLE FOR CANCER PATIENTS IN HONG KONG

PRESS RELEASE Stockholm, Sweden, 27 January 2006 Elekta’s cutting edge radiation oncology systems have recently been installed at the cancer center in Tuen Mun Hospital in Hong Kong. With the grand opening of the image guided radiotherapy service on February 4, Tuen Mun Hospital becomes the first hospital in Asia to offer the latest and most advanced methods for radiation treatment of cancer, allowing for unprecedented precision and accuracy.

The clinic in Tuen Mun Hospial (TMH) is now equipped with three treatment systems from Elekta, including one Elekta Synergy® S, a medical linear accelerator-based system capable of performing Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) and equipped with cone-beam computerized tomography for 3D imaging of internal organs. IGRT is the next generation in high precision radiation treatment delivery; giving the oncologists the ability to use high-resolution 3D X-ray imaging to image a patient at the point of treatment, make corrections to better target a tumor and avoid surrounding healthy tissues. Elekta Synergy® S also combines real-time imaging capabilities with the unique, fully integrated Beam Modulator™. The system provides fine resolution beam shaping for challenging high precision treatment, where the objectives typically include increasing dose, limiting the volume of normal tissue exposed to radiation and decreasing the number of treatment sessions. All three systems installed at the clinic are equipped for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) techniques for planning and delivering treatment to a wide variety of solid tumors. The hallmark of this approach is its ability to conform radiation beams and deliver ‘beamlets’ of varying intensities that maximize treatment dose to the tumor while sparing adjacent critical structures and normal tissues. TMH was opened in 1990 and serves as an acute regional hospital in New Territories West region of Hong Kong serving a population over one million. It plays a significant role in delivering comprehensive medical care in the region with over 1,400 beds and a staff of over 3,500. “Our Cone-beam CT based IGRT System is the first of its kind outside Europe and North America. With its integrated cone-beam computerized tomography imaging system we are able for the first time to see the target in three dimensions with diagnostic imaging quality within the patients’ body in treatment position so that we can adjust for any organ movement before turning on the radiation beam”, says Dr. Stewart Tung, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at TMH. "This latest advancement in cancer treatment technology allows us to target the tumor more accurately, thereby allowing us to increase the dose to the target with more sparing of the surrounding healthy tissue. Right from the beginning I can see major clinical advantages in radiation treatment of cancers like prostate, bladder, lung, liver; and this would also provide as an ideal platform for stereotactic treatment” Dr. Tung concludes. *****