Karolinska University Hospital has recently acquired Elekta's fifth generation radiosurgery system, Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion. Karolinska clinicians have been using the system to treat more patients per day and tumors that used to be hard to reach. It also helps physicians to easily treat multiple metastases in a single session.
Elekta said that the Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion has replaced two earlier generation Leksell Gamma Knife 4C systems, one at Sophiahemmet Hospital and the other at Karolinska University Hospital, each had been treating about 250 patients per year for the last three years. Since the late 1960s, Karolinska has used Gamma Knife surgery for approximately 10,000 patients, according to Dr Dodoo.
Reportedly, on January 11, Karolinska used Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion to treat its first case, a patient with a glioblastoma. Since then, Karolinska has treated 120 patients with Perfexion and the single system already rivals the daily patient volume of the previous systems by virtue of its features.
In addition to the system’s automated collimator, the enhanced planning system for Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion also is adding the efficiency of Karolinska’s radiosurgery practice.
Dr Ernest Dodoo, neurosurgeon of Karolinska,said: “We treat five to 10 metastases on a regular basis, because the automated collimator makes it possible to rapidly plan and treat multiple tumor isocenters. Planning is a lot easier, more intuitive and user friendly. We can visualize the isodose lines simultaneously as we trace them and the dynamic shaping makes dose planning much simpler.
“The sophisticated automation that Perfexion brings to the clinic has transformed radiosurgery from a hands-on, technical procedure to one in which enhancing dose plans is the key objective.
“Perfexion has allowed us to shift the focus from the technical, time-consuming part of treatment changing collimators and adjusting table positions in half-millimeter steps to creating the best dose plan for the patient.”