Pittsburgh, September 28, 2007 -- The next generation of the world’s leading radiosurgical technology, the Leksell Perfexion® Gamma Knife, was placed into service at UPMC Presbyterian’s Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery on September 28, 2007.

In making the announcement regarding the procedures, L. Dade Lunsford, MD, co-director of the center, stated, "Today we successfully treated three difficult cases, demonstrating that this new technology has major advances and advantages. All patients did well." Dr. Douglas Kondziolka, center co-director noted, "The efficiency and comfort for the patient was unparalleled. We have been able to treat complex tumors and patients with multiple tumors in less time."

Redesigned from the ground up, the Perfexion system is a completely new system that takes stereotactic radiosurgery to the next level and provides a radiosurgical platform for further refinement and expansion of procedures in the brain, cervical spine and head & neck regions. The new system features advanced patient treatment and safety features including a newly remastered, more flexible dose delivery system allowing physicians to administer doses to all targets while the patient is still in the original treatment position. With this new technology, physicians can non-invasively treat multiple brain lesions simultaneously—in one single automated procedure, in one single day.

Elekta, Inc. photo of new Perfexion® Gamma Knife.

Gamma knife radiosurgery is used to treat numerous neurosurgical problems, including brain tumors such as metastatic cancer, some primary glial tumors, and also in the management of vascular malformations, acoustic neuromas, other skull base tumors. It is also utilized for chronic pain conditions including trigeminal neuralgia, movement disorders and epilepsy.

Gamma knife radiosurgery is used as primary management in some patients, or in other cases after prior partial removal of symptomatic tumors through innovative approaches including endoscopic skull base surgery. Long term outcome studies have defined the role of radiosurgery, and led to its incorporation in many major medical centers.

Approximately 10% of all brain surgery performed in the United States is done with some radiosurgical technique. The Gamma Knife represents a state-of-the-art technology which is able to provide the highest level of 3-D volume shaping for a single procedure treatment using precise guiding technologies. Patients are treated on an outpatient basis. Complication risks are low and tumor control rates range from 93 to 99% as evaluated by long-term outcome studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

The Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh—under the direction of Dr. Lunsford and Douglas Kondziolka, MD—has shaped the development of gamma knife radiosurgery for over 19 years. The first U.S. 201 Cobalt-60 source Leksell gamma knife was installed at UPMC Presbyterian in August 1987. Since that time, Drs. Lunsford and Kondziolka, have partnered with a team of radiation oncologists and medical physicists to provide treatment to more than 8,000 patients.

The UPMC program has resulted in more than 300 peer-reviewed academic publications, several books, and more than 100 book chapters defining the benefits of radiosurgery. The program has also assisted in the training of most of the neurosurgical, radiation oncology and medical physicist practitioners of gamma knife radiosurgery in the United States, sponsoring over 55 one-week courses in the field of radiosurgery during the last ten years.

Five years ago, Drs. Lunsford and Kondziolka, were asked to serve on an advisory panel of the manufacturer of the gamma knife, Elekta, Inc. Working with other surgeons, radiation oncologists, physicists, and engineers, Elekta decided to re-design the latest generation gamma knife from the bottom up. The goal was to expand treatment options, improve treatment efficiencies, and to maximize the usage of robotics. The first new generation Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion was installed in Marseille, France in the summer of 2007. Dr. Lunsford helped celebrate the installation of this device by providing the inauguration lecture in Marseille in a special ceremony attended by hospital, city, and provincial leaders.

UPMC currently has three gamma knife units in operation­­—the original gamma knife U unit, currently used for radiobiological research, and two 4C robotic models. As was the case with each of these three units, the Perfexion Gamma Knife at UPMC will be the first unit of its kind installed in the United States.

UPMC and Elekta have partnered in the assessment and use of a variety of technologies over the last 25 years, including stereotactic guiding technologies, robotic surgical microscopes, magnetoencephalography, linear accelerator radiation systems, and gamma knife radiosurgery. This partnership has been enormously beneficial to thousands of patients who previously would have to undergo other more invasive surgical procedures or radiation treatment.