Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, recently announced that 150 CyberKnife® Robotic Radiosurgery Systems now have been installed worldwide. This milestone was achieved when Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), a leading healthcare services company, installed a CyberKnife System in collaboration with consultant clinician partners at The Harley Street Clinic in London. HCA’s addition of this CyberKnife System marks the installation of its seventh system companywide, including its first outside the United States.
“The combination of the CyberKnife Systems’ robotic mobility and integrated imaging system provides us with a powerful tool for treating tumors with a precision that wasn’t possible before,” said Nick Plowman, M.D., oncologist and clinical director of The CyberKnife Centre London. “The CyberKnife System not only improves the accuracy with which we can target tumors, but provides the patient with a pain-free experience that minimizes side effects and shortens treatment time.”
Availability of the CyberKnife System has grown dramatically, increasing by 50 percent since May 2007 when the company announced that the 100th CyberKnife System was installed at Centre Oscar Lambret in Lille, France. Additionally, patient demand for CyberKnife radiosurgery is on the rise with the number of patients treated increasing more than 34 percent during fiscal year 2008. Prostate and lung radiosurgery seem to be driving the demand, having grown approximately 95 percent and 44 percent respectively during the last fiscal year.
“The rapid growth in deployments of the CyberKnife System around the world is a testament to the promise of robotic radiosurgery for the treatment of a wide variety of tumors,” said Euan S. Thomson, Ph.D., president and CEO of Accuray. “The accuracy and non-invasive nature of CyberKnife radiosurgery gives patients a more convenient and less intrusive option for the treatment of tumors anywhere in the body.”
Currently, HCA has installed CyberKnife Systems in six facilities, including CyberKnife Center of North Florida Radiation Oncology in Gainesville, Fla.; CyberKnife Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla.; St. Lucie Medical CyberKnife Treatment Center in Port St. Lucie, Fla.; Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford, Fla.; Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, Kan.; and Methodist CyberKnife Center in San Antonio, Texas.