Elekta’s Precision Surgery System Used to Treat Parkinson’s Patients at Three European Centers

Doctors are using Elekta‘s Leksell Vantage Stereotactic System for precision Parkinson’s disease surgery at three European hospitals.

The system has led to improved treatment and patient comfort, the company said. A stereotactic system uses three-dimensional coordinates to locate small targets inside the body.

The first surgeries using the system were performed at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London and at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. Surgeons used it to implant deep brain stimulation electrodes, a procedure that requires precision targeting.

Doctors have now performed several of the surgeries at the sites. Surgeons at the Academisch Medisch Centrum in Amsterdam and the Hopital La Timone in Marseille have finished Vantage training and will begin using the system as well, the company said.

Stereotactic neurosurgery, which is minimally invasive, treats specific regions in the brain while preserving surrounding healthy tissue. Several brain and neurological conditions, including non-malignant tumors, brain cancer, essential tremor, and Parkinson’s, are treated with this type of surgery. Stereotactic neurosurgery has also been used to help deliver drugs to regions of the brain that are not easily accessible.

The Leksell Stereotactic System offers top-flight imaging and ease of use, ensuring the accuracy that is critical in this type of surgery, the company said.

It said it designed the system with both doctors and patients in mind. Benefits include  MRI-compatible accessories and shorter treatment times.

Professor Lars Leksell, Elekta’s founder, developed the system while he was chairman of neurosurgery at Karolinska University Hospital.

“Our first experiences with the Leksell Vantage Stereotactic System” show its potential “for obtaining images with more anatomical detail,” Dr. Ludvic Zrinzo, a senior lecturer at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square, London, said in a press release. “The open face design is an advantage in both awake and asleep surgery, and the updated design provides a more patient- and user-friendly system.”

“Elekta is proud to report that the first successful surgeries with the Leksell Vantage System have been performed at these prestigious and experienced centers of neurosurgery,” said Jesper Söderqvist, an Elektra vice president.