Accuray Incorporated announced that the company has signed an agreement with medPhoton GmbH to collaborate on integration of its ImagingRing® system, a new technology for volumetric image guidance, with the CyberKnife® System.

The ImagingRing provides a range of advanced imaging capabilities including large field-of-view cone beam CT. This long-term strategic agreement will provide Accuray with certain exclusive development, sales and distribution rights of the unique ImagingRing for use in adaptive radiation therapy, SBRT and robotic radiosurgery.

"This collaboration with medPhoton enables us to partner with a company which, like ours, is committed to using innovative solutions to improve the lives of cancer patients," said Joshua H. Levine, president and chief executive officer of Accuray.

"The Imaging Ring represents the next generation in imaging technology and, together with the CyberKnife System, has the potential to transform the radiation therapy treatment experience for clinicians and their patients."

medPhoton GmbH specializes in the development and manufacturing of sophisticated, state-of-the-art medical equipment in the field of radiotherapy medical imaging.

The company is focused on creating high-quality medical devices which make radiotherapy treatments comfortable for patients, while simultaneously improving the radiation oncology team’s clinical workflow.

medPhoton originated from the Institute for Research and Development on Advanced Radiation Technologies (radART) and the Department for Radiotherapy and Radio-Oncology at the Paracelsus Medical University Clinics Salzburg, leveraging their expertise in application-oriented research and development to design products which address the radiation oncology community’s unmet clinical needs.

"The partnership with Accuray provides us with the opportunity to integrate our leading-edge imaging technology with the CyberKnife System, one of the industry’s most advanced treatment delivery systems," said Heinz Deutschmann, chief executive officer and founder of medPhoton.

"We believe the products will complement each other and enable clinicians to truly optimize the radiation treatments they can provide their patients."

The CyberKnife M6™ Series delivers radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy, enabling precise, high-quality dose distributions to be administered to the patient with extreme accuracy over a minimum number of treatments, reducing side effects and preserving patients’ quality of life.

The system is able to adjust and automatically stay on target in real-time, accounting for patient and tumor motion continually throughout the treatment. CyberKnife is the only robotic radiosurgery system available today which delivers such high precision treatments for intra- and extra-cranial disease sites throughout the body.