Baptist Medical Center Announces Acquisition of Novalis Tx™
System Offers Range of Non-Invasive Options for Treating Cancer, Other Abnormalities of Brain, Body

Jacksonville, Florida, February 23, 2009 -- Baptist Medical Center has acquired a Novalis Tx™ system for image-guided radiosurgery in order to offer patients fast, accurate non-surgical treatments for cancer and other conditions in the brain, head, neck and body.

Novalis Tx incorporates advanced imaging, treatment planning and treatment delivery technologies from Varian Medical Systems and BrainLAB, enabling doctors to carry out non-invasive image-guided radiosurgery procedures quickly and with great precision.

Image-guided radiosurgery (IGRS) involves quickly delivering precisely focused, high-energy radiation to a localized area to destroy tumors throughout the body that often cannot be treated using traditional surgery, including some malignant and benign tumors, brain metastases (spread of cancer from other parts of the body to the brain), arteriovenous malformations (a defect of the body's circulatory system) and other conditions such as trigeminal neuralgia (a disorder of a specific nerve in the brain that causes intense facial pain).

"These treatments are delivered from outside the body to destroy tumors or remove targeted abnormalities without an incision so patients treated in this way can avoid hospitalization, lengthy recovery periods, and many of the complications often associated with conventional surgery," said neurosurgeon Nick Chandler, MD, medical director of the Novalis Tx program at Baptist Medical Center. "Radiosurgery is an outpatient procedure and patients typically have treatment and are able to resume their normal activities that same day."

Novalis Tx combines a powerful linear accelerator, which rotates around the patient to deliver treatment beams from virtually any angle with a set of advanced image guidance and motion management tools that guide patient set-up and positioning, and monitor motion during treatment.

A high-definition multi-leaf collimator shapes the treatment beam so it matches the shape of the tumor from every angle. Novalis Tx can be used to deliver frameless radiosurgery treatments, a more patient-friendly alternative to other systems that require restriction of movement with a head ring that attaches to the skull.

To ensure precise treatments, Novalis Tx incorporates three imaging systems. "One will provide us with information about the precise location and shape of the tumor prior to treatment, and the other tracks motion during treatment so we can adjust our targeting if the patient shifts by even a few millimeters. The third will enable us to verify treatment accuracy. There are also tools for synchronizing treatment with the patient's normal breathing patterns when treating in or near the lungs to spare normal tissue from radiation," said Baptist Health radiation oncologist Douglas Johnson, MD. The flexibility of the Novalis Tx platform will make it possible for doctors at Baptist Medical Center to offer the most appropriate form of treatment based on patients' specific needs, from stereotactic radiosurgery--a very fast treatment designed to eradicate a tiny lesion in a single session--to longer courses of image-guided radiotherapy, with lower-dose treatments spread out over more sessions.

Regardless of the type of treatment prescribed, the powerful Novalis Tx can deliver it very quickly, so that patients spend little time immobilized on the treatment table. "Fast treatments are, of course, easier on the patient," said Dr. Chandler. "It's hard for anyone to hold still for long periods of time and movement can compromise treatment accuracy. With Novalis Tx, treatments that would have taken up to an hour or more using other techniques can be completed in minutes."

Doctors at Baptist Medical Center plan to use Novalis Tx to offer non-invasive stereotactic radiosurgery procedures for a diverse spectrum of conditions of the spine, lung, liver and prostate cancer.

"It has the unique ability to pinpoint and target small tumors anywhere to deliver higher and safer doses of radiation than is possible with traditional radiation therapy," said radiation oncologist Cynthia Anderson, MD, who trained in the use of Novalis Tx during her residency.

"With Novalis Tx, we are entering a new age of medicine and making surgery without an incision a reality for the people of our community," Dr. Chandler said.