Accuray Incorporated ARAY recently announced that the first patient treatment using the company’s CyberKnife M6 System with the InCise Multileaf Collimator (MLC) has been successfully completed.

The treatment was conducted as an integrative effort with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Notably, UPMC was one of the InCise MLC evaluation sites working together with Accuray.

The patient treated had been initially diagnosed with a brain meningioma. The patient was in need of a highly-focused treatment, similar to the kind Accuray’s CyberKnife is designed for.

With the help of the newly added MLC, physicians achieved higher efficiency in tumor targeting and sparing of healthy tissue. What is even more remarkable is that the treatment procedure, which usually takes an hour, was completed in less than 22 minutes.

Recently, Lancaster General Health hospital received the first commercially available InCise MLC for the CyberKnife M6 System. The hospital preferred the InCise MLC due to its efficiency and ability to cater to a broader range of patient cases. Evaluation of the InCise MLC with the CyberKnife M6 system was earlier completed by two U.S. sites and it has successfully met all predetermined criteria.

We feel these developments will bode well for Accuray. The CyberKnife system is expected to significantly help improve cancer treatment going forward. Since the system is able to treat a wide range of patients with complex tumors, we believe it will eventually help Accuray to expand its existing customer base and ramp up top-line growth.

Notably, CyberKnife M6 is a robotic radio surgery system which treats both cancerous as well as non-cancerous tumors. The system’s mobility allows it to destroy tumors with enhanced precision by emitting radiation beams, while avoiding healthy tissues.

The device is also used to deliver high doses of radiation to tumors anywhere in the body, including the prostate, lung, brain, spine, liver, pancreas and kidney. This form of treatment is apt for surgically complex tumors or patients seeking a non-invasive option.

In 2012, Accuray had received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) approval for its CyberKnife M6 Series.

Zacks Rank

Currently, Accuray has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some top-ranked stocks in the medical sector are Affymetrix AFFX, Luminex LMNX and Abaxis ABAX. All the three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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