Ottawa, May 27, 2009
Elekta and The Ottawa Hospital (Ottawa, Ontario) have embarked on
a decade-long mutual support project that will create an
advanced cancer treatment centre. Part of The Ottawa Hospital,
The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre (TOHCC), will be equipped with
radiation therapy systems, as well as workflow enhancing
software and treatment planning systems, enabling TOHCC to
provide sophisticated therapeutic services in a chartless,
paperless clinical environment.
Among the largest Canadian cancer centres, TOHCC has undergone
extraordinary growth in its cancer management capacity over the
last decade, and steadily has increased its complement of Elekta
radiation treatment systems during that period. Its latest
expansion to a new site at Queensway Carleton Hospital presented
the hospital with an opportunity to evolve into a national/North
American leader with global potential.
“We needed to identify a provider with whom we could partner for
long-term sustainability and future innovation in radiation
therapy,” said Greg Doiron, TOHCC Clinical Director. “We
determined Elekta was best positioned to move us into our next
development phase and help us achieve our long-term objectives,
in addition to our short-term need, which is improving patients’
access to healthcare.”
Advanced Technology
Under the partnership agreement, The Ottawa Hospital will
acquire four Elekta Synergy® treatment systems, two to be sited
at The Ottawa Hospital’s General Campus and two to be operated
at Queensway Carleton Hospital site, when the cancer program
starts in late 2009.
“Our goal is to use the Elekta Synergy systems to perform
advanced methods, such as Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT)
and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) as soon as
possible in appropriate cases,” Doiron said.
The Cancer Centre also will acquire MOSAIQ® software solutions.
MOSAIQ RO will manage radiation therapy simulation, planning,
setup, verification, delivery, review and analysis. Integrated
with MOSAIQ RO is the MOSAIQ image-enabled electronic medical
record (EMR), which supports the cancer care team by uniting
diverse systems and devices. These products will form the
complete information technology infrastructure to streamline the
TOHCC’s growing radiation oncology service.
Ottawa Harnesses STRATEGIQ™
Consultative Services
The Ottawa Hospital’s substantial equipment acquisitions are
fundamental to the partnership agreement, but they are not the
linchpin to TOHCC’s success, Doiron said. To maximize TOHCC’s
clinical and operational value, The Ottawa Hospital subjected
their existing centre to an intensive process review and
restructuring through STRATEGIQ™ consultative tools and
services.
Several Elekta representatives went to The Ottawa Hospital
beginning in late 2008 and started the initial process review
that carried on into early 2009.
“They mapped our processes in detail,” he explained. “The
analysis covered everything from patient referral to the cancer
centre, the patients’ care and their discharge. Everything was
documented in a process flow. This allowed Elekta staff to
identify business and clinical practices that we could improve
and also helped us prioritize what we needed to successfully
launch and operate the Queensway Carleton site’s service.”
TOHCC Experience will spur Elekta
Technology Development
The Elekta-TOHCC partnership agreement will provide Elekta with
a wealth of clinical data on the performance and effectiveness
of its technology, with the aim of using this experience and
knowledge to make Elekta’s offerings more effective and
efficient.
“Combining our technological and clinical resources in The
Ottawa Hospital-Elekta partnership agreement is far more than a
business transaction,” said Gerry Hogue, Vice President and
General Manager, Elekta Canada. “This agreement represents the
formation of a major, collaborative strategic relationship that
we predict will not only benefit the respective partners long
into the future, but also will greatly increase access to and
increase the quality of cancer management for thousands of
patients.”
About The Ottawa Hospital Regional
Cancer Centre
TOHCC (formerly the Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre) is a cancer
treatment and research facility providing cancer services to
patients in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario. It is part of The Ottawa
Hospital, which serves the healthcare needs of the 1.2 million
residents of Ottawa and Eastern Ontario and is one of the
largest teaching and research facilities in Canada.
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 and
radiosurgery, as well as workflow enhancing software systems
across the spectrum of cancer care. Today, Elekta solutions are
used in more than 5,000 hospitals, and every day more than
100,000 patients receive diagnosis, treatment or follow-up with
the help of a solution from the Elekta Group. Elekta employs
around 2,500 people globally. Corporate headquarter is located
in Stockholm, Sweden and the company is listed on the Nordic
Exchange under the ticker EKTAb. For more information, visit
www.elekta.com. |
|
Media Inquiries:
Michelle Lee
PR and Advertising Manager
Tel: +1 770-670-2447
michelle.lee@elekta.com
Global Marketing inquiries:
Peter Ejemyr
Group VP,
Corporate Communications, Tel: +46 733 611 000
peter.ejemyr@elekta.com
Investor inquiries:
Lena Schattauer,
Investor Relations,
Elekta AB
Tel: +46 8 587 257 22, +46 70 595 51 00,
lena.schattauer@elekta.com
Link Disclaimer
|
