ST. PAUL, Minn., April 26 /PRNewswire/ -- On Thursday, April 29, 2004, St. Joseph’s Hospital, a member of HealthEast Care System, will welcome John R. Adler, Jr., MD, to the Twin Cities. Dr. Adler is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Accuray and one of the inventors of the CyberKnife(R) stereotactic radiosurgery system. He will be in the Twin Cities for a medical presentation to HealthEast’s medical staff and referring physicians, and to mark the 100th CyberKnife(R) patient treated in the Twin Cities.
St. Joseph’s Hospital is the first hospital in the Upper Midwest and only the twelfth in the United States to begin using the CyberKnife(R) to treat tumors and lesions of the brain, neck, spine and other areas previously diagnosed as “inoperable.” The robotic arm of the CyberKnife(R) stereotactic radiosurgery system uses military technology similar to that used for cruise missile guidance to deliver concentrated and accurate beams of radiation to the targeted tumor or lesion. Stereotactic radiosurgery uses a 3-D frame of reference to deliver a focused radiation dose in order to achieve a surgical-like outcome. CyberKnife(R) is also the only radiosurgical system in the world that corrects for any patient movement during the actual procedure. Benefits to the patient include no pain, no blood loss, no sedation, no scalpel, no damage to surrounding tissue or major organs, and no recovery time. Studies have shown that stereotactic radiosurgery is also less expensive and results in fewer complications than traditional surgery to the brain and spine and that its outcomes are comparable to surgery for malignant brain tumors.
Dr. Adler has been a Stanford faculty member since 1987 and is a world-recognized leader in the development of stereotactic surgery and radiosurgery. Dr. Adler holds an AB degree from Harvard College and an MD from Harvard University. During his neurosurgery residency at Harvard, he completed a fellowship at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden under the direction of the late professor Dr. Lars Leksell, the creator of stereotactic radiosurgery. He subsequently garnered extensive experience with all present forms of stereotactic radiosurgery, including the proton beam and gantry-based linear accelerators during his training at Harvard and while working at Stanford.
His research in neurosurgery, radiosurgery and radiation oncology has led to numerous advances and publications. Dr. Adler has written nearly 100 scientific, peer-reviewed articles and book chapters throughout his career. He also serves on the editorial boards of Neurosurgery, the official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, Computer-Assisted Surgery, and The Journal of Radiosurgery.
HealthEast Care System is a community-focused, non-profit health care system that provides a full spectrum of family health services. Hospitals include St. Joseph’s Hospital, St. John’s Hospital, Woodwinds Health Campus and Bethesda Rehabilitation Hospital. Other services include clinics, senior care centers, rehabilitation facilities, hospice, home care, outpatient surgery centers and a variety of other health facilities and programs. HealthEast has approximately 7,500 employees and has more than 1,300 physicians on staff. St. Joseph’s Hospital has been treating patients in the CyberKnife Center since October 2003.
HealthEast Care System
CONTACT: Ginger Buxa, +1-651-326-3590, gabuxa@healtheast.org , or JodiRitacca, +1-651-232-6410, jritacca@healtheast.org , both of HealthEast PublicRelations
