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Having CE marked its Leksell Gamma Knife Icon, Elekta has introduced yet another stereotactic radiosurgery platform to the European market.
Like other Gamma Knife systems, the Icon is capable of ultra-precise dose delivery to lesions in the brain. Unlike previous Gamma Knife systems, however, the company says Icon represents a push toward frameless radiosurgery.
"Leksell Gamma Knife Icon is a new concept for performing precision radiosurgery for all types of cranial cases with unlimited clinical and workflow flexibility," said Tomas Puusepp, president and CEO of Elekta, in a statement.
"Clinicians can choose either frame-based or frameless methods to immobilize the patient's head, as well as the option to perform the treatment in a single session or in multiple sessions. Icon is also based on the only technology available that can perform ultra-precise Microradiosurgery for the cases where this is required," continued Puusepp.
France's University Hospital La Timone has been the first to install an Icon in their facility, and will treat their first patient with it next month. They were also the first hospital to install the previous generation Gamma Knife, the Perfexion, in 2006. Dr. Jean Regis, a neurosurgeon and program director for the hospital's Gamma Knife program, said there are two "significant opportunities" related to frameless immobilization on the Icon system.
The first, he said, will be able to enlarge the scope of indications by more readily permitting hypofractionation. More important, according to Regis, is the ability to evaluate shifts in the patient's position and to adapt the dose proactively to account for movement.
"This, in particular, will push frameless, hypofractionated radiosurgery to a level that doesn't exist today," said Regis.
For hospitals in the U.S., FDA approval is pending.
