Queensland
2014-01-02
Private cancer care organization, Oceania Oncology, selects Elekta treatment planning and therapy technology
QUEENSLAND, Australia, Jan. 3 – To match the growth of its radiotherapy treatment capacity in southeast Queensland, Australia, Oceania Oncology has invested in advanced treatment planning with the acquisition of Monaco® 5. Monaco 5 consolidates many of the best Elekta treatment planning solutions into a single system, increasing confidence and clinical versatility.
Radiation therapy staff at Oceania’s clinics in Maroochydore (Sunshine Coast) and Bundaberg began training on Monaco 5 in early December; they anticipate using the system clinically by mid-January.
“Oceania Oncology is not quite three years old, but we’ve been expanding rapidly, with the installation of an Elekta Synergy® system with Agility™ MLC at our new Bundaberg site,” says Chris Inggs, General Manager. “In addition, we migrated to MOSAIQ® Oncology Information System six weeks ago. With the addition of new techniques made possible by these acquisitions, we saw purchase of Monaco 5 as an investment in our future and a way to fully exploit this new capacity.”
Among the first moves for Oceania, and one supported by Monaco 5, will be the migration from step-and-shoot IMRT to VMAT. Bundaberg’s Elekta Synergy system, as well as the Maroochydore center’s Varian linac, will undergo this migration, Inggs adds.
In addition to VMAT, the latest version of Monaco also supports IMRT and 3D conformal radiation therapy. It is especially well equipped for sophisticated stereotactic therapies such as SRS and SRT, with added planning support for specialized beam-shaping solutions, including circular cones. As in all Monaco releases, Monaco 5 utilizes the Monte Carlo dose engine, considered the gold standard for radiation dose calculations.
Monaco 5 also features a reinvented workflow, which complements Oceania’s quasi-distributed planning network, according to Inggs.
“With Monaco 5, we can have several staff at once calculating and delineating – it makes resource utilization far more efficient,” he says. “So we will be able to average across the sites rather than staffing for peaks. We’ve done some modeling on that and it looks much better – we’re going to be removing a lot of bottlenecks at the dosimetry stage.”
Learn more at www.elekta.com/Monaco5.
###
For further information, please contact:
Johan Andersson, Director, Investor Relations, Elekta AB
Tel: +46 702 100 451, email: johan.andersson@elekta.com
Time zone: CET: Central European Time
Michelle Joiner, Director, Global Public Relations and Brand Management, Elekta
Tel: +1 770-670-2447, email: michelle.joiner@elekta.com
Time zone: ET: Eastern Time
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, radiosurgery and brachytherapy, 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.
Today, Elekta solutions in oncology and neurosurgery are used in over 6,000 hospitals worldwide. Elekta employs around 3,500 employees globally. The corporate headquarters is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company is listed on the Nordic Exchange under the ticker STO:EKTAB. Website: www.elekta.com.