Presentations at the Third European Stereotactic Radiation Therapy and Whole Body Radiotherapy Workshop Highlight Clinical Outcomes and Emerging Trends
By Accuray Incorporated, PRNEMonday, July 5, 2010
Results Presented in Spine, Lung, Liver and Prostate Treatment Emphasized the Benefits of Whole Body Radiosurgery
SUNNYVALE, California, July 6, 2010 - Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of
radiosurgery, today announced highlights from the Third European Stereotactic
Radiation Therapy and Whole Body Radiotherapy Workshop, held in Brussels,
Belgium on May 28 and May 29. Event attendees included 220 health
professionals, ranging from radiation oncologists and neurosurgeons to
medical physicists and hospital administrators from 27 countries.
Focusing on new developments in the field, the independent Scientific
Committee developed a multi-disciplinary educational event as an overview of
the current state-of-the-art in intracranial and extracranial radiosurgery
and Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT). Data on clinical usage were
presented in areas such as the management of CNS lesions as well as managing
tumor movement in the spine, prostate, lung, and liver. The Scientific
Committee was lead by Prof. Peter Levendag (Erasmus MC, Daniel den Hoed
Cancer Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands), and co-chaired by Prof. Vincent
Gregoire (Universite Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium) and Prof. Eric
Lartigau (Centre Oscar Lambret, Lille, France),
"The extreme precision of technologies such as the CyberKnife System,
along with better definition of the tumor through functional and morphologic
imaging, give clinicians the ability to significantly accelerate the
treatment by using higher doses per fraction," said Prof. Eric Lartigau, Head
of Radiation Oncology Department, Centre Oscar Lambret, France. "The ultimate
goal of this very exciting field in radiation oncology is to offer the most
efficient treatment option to cancer patients."
Highlights of the Workshop included:
- A study presented by Xavier Mirabel, M.D., from Centre Oscar Lambret in Lille, France, on the use of the CyberKnife System to treat primary and secondary liver tumors. The study, which looked at 84 patients from June 2007 to October 2009 (42 liver metastases and 42 hepatocelullar carcinomas (HCC) which were not candidates for surgical resection), showed that the CyberKnife System is a viable option for local treatment of primary and secondary liver tumors, with encouraging local control. It emerges as a strong alternative for patients who are poor surgical candidates or whose tumors are not amenable to resection. Dr. Xavier Mirabel also announced that a clinical trial is currently recruiting patients with HCC of less than 6 cm and that a European trial for liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma will open soon. - A study presented by Christoph Furweger, Ph.D., from the European CyberKnife Centre Munchen Grosshadern in Munich, Germany explored spinal radiosurgery in a population of 260 patients with cervical, thoracic, lumbar or pelvic/sacral tumors. Dr. Furweger evaluated clinical targeting precision and assessed patient motion data during fiducial free, single-fraction spinal radiosurgery using the CyberKnife System. Dr. Furweger concluded that, despite patient motion, sub-millimeter targeting precision could be obtained with fiducial-free spinal radiosurgery. - A presentation by Associate Prof. Iris Gibbs, M.D., from Stanford Medical Center, Stanford, Calif., reviewed the rationale, treatment technique and early results obtained between 1999 and 2007 using fractionated CyberKnife radiosurgery for the treatment of 474 patients with acoustic neuromas, with a focus on hearing preservation. After a median follow-up of 3.6 years, results are encouraging with durable tumor control and acceptable toxicity. - A study presented by Mary Ellen Masterson-McGary, Chief Physicist at the CyberKnife Center of Tampa Bay, Florida, USA (formerly of the CyberKnife Center in Naples, Florida), described the results of 155 patients treated with CyberKnife prostate radiosurgery in five treatment fractions for low and intermediate risk prostate cancer. According to Dr. Masterson-McGary, erectile function was preserved in 81 percent of patients who have been followed for two years or more, and the early (median follow-up 30 months) biochemical disease-free survival is 97 percent. Dr. Masterson-McGary noted that she found the results to be very encouraging, and will continue to follow-up and report on the clinical outcomes as the data mature.
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 deliver more than 90,000
treatments worldwide and currently 200 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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risks and uncertainties, including uncertainties associated with the medical
device industry. Except for the historical information contained herein, the
matters set forth in this press release, including statements relating to
clinical acceptance, clinical benefits, clinical publications, and clinical
results are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe
harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statements are made
and are based on information available at the time those statements are made
and/or management's good faith belief as of that time with respect to future
events. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.
Important factors that could cause actual performance and results to differ
materially from the forward-looking statements we make include: market
acceptance of products; competing products, the combination of our products
with complementary technology; and other risks detailed from time to time
under the heading "Risk Factors" in our report on Form 10-K for the 2009
fiscal year, our quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed on May 6, 2010, and our
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actual results of operations may differ significantly from those contemplated
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affecting forward-looking information, except to the extent required by
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Sancie Nakarat of Accuray Incorporated, + 33(0)6-81-36-84-34, snakarat at accuray.com; or Adrien Durand, + 33(0)1-56-69-75-19, adrien.durand at edelman.com, for Accuray Incorporated
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