Elekta (EKTA-B.ST) announced today that Professor L. Dade Lunsford, MD, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, has won the prestigious Herbert Olivecrona Award for his outstanding contribution to brain surgery with Leksell Gamma Knife®. The award is presented by Karolinska Institutet & Karolinska University Hospital in honor of Professor Herbert Olivecrona (1891-1980) an internationally renowned neurosurgeon and Professor of Neurosurgery at Karolinska Institutet until 1960.
Prof. Lunsford was responsible for bringing Leksell Gamma Knife to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 1987, the first center in the United States to offer this state-of-the-art form of brain surgery.
“Gamma Knife was once a disruptive technology,” he says. “With experience from 15,000 patients treated in Pittsburgh over the last 30 years, we can confirm that Gamma Knife surgery has become a sustaining technology because of its proven medical value, improved patient outcomes and quality of life, plus reduced costs to patients and health care insurers.”
Gamma Knife surgery, also sometimes referred to as stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), is a non-invasive alternative to traditional brain surgery and radiation therapy for treatment of complex, difficult to treat brain conditions. Since its first use in the late 1960s, more than one million patients worldwide have received treatment with Leksell Gamma Knife.
In addition to being the Lars Leksell Professor and Distinguished Professor at the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, Lunsford, is also director of the Center for Image-Guided Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and an internationally recognized authority on stereotactic surgery, radiosurgery, and minimally invasive surgery.
As recipient of the award, also known as the "Nobel Prize of Neurosurgery", Prof. Lunsford will deliver his Olivecrona Lecture, “Can the future of neurosurgery innovation be sustained?” The ceremony is held at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm on December 1, 2017.
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For further information, please contact:
Gert van Santen, Group Vice President Corporate Communications, Elekta AB
Tel: +31 653 561 242, Email: gert.vansanten@elekta.com
Time zone: CET: Central European Time
Raven Canzeri, Global Public Relations Manager
Tel: +1 770 670 2524, Email: raven.canzeri@elekta.com
Time zone: EST: Eastern Standard Time
About Elekta
Elekta is proud to be the leading innovator of equipment and software used to improve, prolong and save the lives of people with cancer and brain disorders. Our advanced, effective solutions are created in collaboration with customers, and more than 6,000 hospitals worldwide rely on Elekta technology. Our treatment solutions and oncology informatics portfolios are designed to enhance the delivery of radiation therapy, radiosurgery and brachytherapy, and to drive cost efficiency in clinical workflows. Elekta employs 3,600 people around the world. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Elekta is listed on NASDAQ Stockholm. www.elekta.com