ELEKTA CHOSEN TO DELIVER SOPHISTICATED BRAIN MAPPING TECHNOLOGY TO THE NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER

With a reputation for excellence, innovation and extraordinary patient care, The Nebraska Medical Center has earned J.D. Power and Associates’ Hospital of Distinction award for three consecutive years.

As the teaching hospital for the University of Nebraska Medical Center, this 689 licensed bed academic medical center has an international reputation for providing solid organ and bone marrow transplantation services and is well known nationally and regionally for its oncology, neurology and cardiology programs. With a history dating back to 1869, dedication to compassionate, quality patient care is the cornerstone of The Nebraska Medical Center. The not-for-profit hospital is known for excellence and innovation in medicine.

The Nebraska Medical Center is Nebraska’s largest health care facility – with more than 4,900 employees and more than 1,000 physicians on staff. Its physicians practice in all major specialties and sub-specialties attracting patients from across the region and from around the world.

The Nebraska Medical Center will receive its new Elekta Neuromag MEG system in the spring/summer of 2008. With the MEG system from Elekta installed, neurosurgeons, neurologists and those in related fields will be able to non-invasively record human brain activity in real time, better and more accurately than ever before.

MEG technology is regarded as the most efficient method for tracking brain activity at millisecond resolution. Compared to EEG technology, MEG has uniquely accurate localization capabilities. Other technologies, for example Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), provide only anatomical or metabolic information; whereas MEG is a direct measure of neuronal electric activity. When complemented with MRI, MEG increases the ability to understand brain activity and to improve treatment of functional disorders and, in particularly, Epilepsy.

“We are extremely excited about our upcoming Magnetoencephalography system installation,” said Dr. Sanjay Singh, Director of The Nebraska Epilepsy Center at The Nebraska Medical Center and Associate Professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

“We plan to use the MEG extensively as a vital part of our pre-surgical epilepsy evaluation. The highly accurate localization capability is exactly what is needed when dealing with complex intractable epilepsy cases.” Singh continued, “The Nebraska Medical Center is home to a comprehensive epilepsy program that serves Nebraska and the surrounding region. It provides new hope and opportunities to people with epilepsy with a multi-phase monitoring and treatment program using some of the most advanced diagnostic equipment available. Adding MEG technology will enable our doctors to more accurately pinpoint the site of a seizure and determine the type of epilepsy. The Elekta Neuromag seems ideally suited to helping us to deal with the most difficult to treat epilepsy patients, many of whom do not respond well to medications. Particularly useful is the Elekta technology which will allow us to measure patients that have an implanted vagal nerve stimulator.”

“We wish The Nebraska Medical Center every success with the treatment of their patients and hope that the MEG system will provide valuable additional information,” said Tomas Puusepp, President and CEO of Elekta. “We are pleased that this technology can make a difference in the quality of patient care, even in difficult cases.”

Elekta Neuromag®

The Elekta Neuromag 306-channel MEG sensor array has a higher density of detectors than any other system on the market, leading to a more accurate representation of brain activity. The industry’s lowest signal-to-noise ratio means that more useful information is acquired, thus yielding the highest information per sample.

The unique design of the sensors combined with advanced software makes it possible to gain data with unsurpassed detail, even from the deepest regions of the brain. The system also has the highest available immunity to magnetic interference, either patient-related or external. Elekta Neuromag also has also the lowest operational costs. Elekta Neuromag is technically the most sophisticated MEG/EEG device available on the market today.