Denmark's Odense University Hospital Works To Make Elekta VMAT Its Mainstream Radiation Therapy Technique

Faster arc-based method could help increase the number of patient treatments per day

ODENSE, Denmark, March 18, 2010 - Odense University Hospital (OUH, Odense, Denmark), a major
multi-specialty medical center serving southern Denmark, joined the global
community of Elekta VMAT
(www.elekta.com/healthcare_international_elekta_vmat.php) clinical
sites last fall when it began treating patients with the arc-based technique.
With Elekta VMAT, single or multiple radiation beams sweep in uninterrupted
arc(s) around the patient, significantly reducing treatment times.

Shorter prostate treatment

OUH physicians used Elekta VMAT for the first time to treat a patient
with prostate cancer. Because Elekta VMAT enables the treatment beam to
complete non-stop therapy arcs, clinicians were able to perform the one-arc
treatment in a 10-minute session, shaving two minutes off the time needed to
conduct an advanced IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy) treatment.

"The time-savings over successive Elekta VMAT cases could help us treat
additional patients per day," says Knud Aage Werenberg, head physicist at
OUH. "We would like to offer VMAT as the standard treatment for selected
patient groups before this summer."

The two-minute decrease in treatment time may also reduce the chance that
the patient or tumor will move during the treatment session, he adds.

In a study, OUH established Elekta VMAT's speed and quality versus IMRT
several months before the Danish medical center initiated its clinical VMAT
program.(1) "We generated Elekta VMAT plans for 25 patients with head and
neck cancer," he says. "The results showed that the Elekta VMAT target
coverage and sparing of organs-at-risk would be equivalent or superior to the
IMRT plan, while reducing beam-on time by 35 percent."

OUH has used the technique to treat an additional 11 patients, with
prostate, head and neck and lung cancers.

Presently, OUH delivers Elekta VMAT on one of its four Elekta Synergy(R)
(www.elekta.com/synergy) treatment systems. The center operates two
additional Elekta linear accelerators and two treatment machines from another
provider. OUH treats approximately 180 patients daily on these eight systems.

About Elekta

Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and
clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company
develops sophisticated, state-of-the-art tools and treatment planning systems
for radiation therapy and radiosurgery, as well as workflow enhancing
software systems across the spectrum of cancer care.

Stretching the boundaries of science and technology, providing
intelligent and resource-efficient solutions that offer confidence to both
healthcare providers and patients, Elekta aims to improve, prolong and even
save patient lives, making the future possible today.

Today, Elekta solutions in oncology and neurosurgery are used in over
5,000 hospitals globally, and every day more than 100,000 patients receive
diagnosis, treatment or follow-up with the help of a solution from the Elekta
Group.

Elekta employs around 2,500 employees globally. The corporate headquarter
is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company is listed on the Nordic
Exchange under the ticker EKTAb. For more information about Elekta, please
visit www.elekta.com.

(1) Bertelsen A et al. Single Arc Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy of
head and neck cancer. Radiother Oncol (2010),
doi:10.1016/j.radonc.2010.01.011

Stina Thorman, Vice President Corporate Communications, Elekta AB, Tel: +46-8-587-254-37, email: stina.thorman at elekta.com, Time zone: CET: Central European, or Michelle Lee, Director, Global Public Relations and Brand Management, Elekta, Tel: +1-770-670-2447, email: michelle.lee at elekta.com, Time zone: EST: Eastern Standard. Editor's note: Images and streaming video of Elekta VMAT are available in Elekta's Media Resources Center (www.elekta.com/corporate_international_media_center.php).