Elekta
Encyclopedia
Elekta is a swedish company that provides radiation therapy
, radiosurgery
, related equipment and clinical management for the treatment of cancer and brain disorders.
, Professor of Neurosurgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm
, Sweden
. Since 1994, the company has been listed on the Nordic
Exchange
under the ticker
EKTAb. Elekta was created to commercialize the development of the Leksell Stereotactic System, and Leksell Gamma Knife, which the professor had been researching since the late 1940s. Lars Leksell
's son, Laurent, became chief executive officer
of Elekta until 2005, and under his leadership the company expanded into a public medical technology group with more than 2,500 employees worldwide. In 2005 Tomas Puusepp became President and CEO of the company. The company trades only in Sweden, but nearly half the sales of the company's equipment are in the United States
.
A linear Accelerator, one of Elekta's radiation oncology products.
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy , radiation oncology, or radiotherapy , sometimes abbreviated to XRT or DXT, is the medical use of ionizing radiation, generally as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells.Radiation therapy is commonly applied to the cancerous tumor because of its ability to control...
, radiosurgery
Radiosurgery
Radiosurgery is a medical procedure that allows non-invasive treatment of benign and malignant tumors. It is also known as stereotactic radiotherapy, when used to target lesions in the brain, and stereotactic body radiotherapy when used to target lesions in the body...
, related equipment and clinical management for the treatment of cancer and brain disorders.
History
Elekta was founded in 1972 by the late Lars LeksellLars Leksell
Lars Leksell was a Swedish physician and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the inventor of radiosurgery.-Life and work:...
, Professor of Neurosurgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Since 1994, the company has been listed on the Nordic
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
Exchange
Exchange (organized market)
An exchange is a highly organized market where tradable securities, commodities, foreign exchange, futures, and options contracts are sold and bought.-Description:...
under the ticker
Ticker symbol
A stock symbol or ticker symbol is a short abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both. "Ticker symbol" refers to the symbols that were printed on the ticker...
EKTAb. Elekta was created to commercialize the development of the Leksell Stereotactic System, and Leksell Gamma Knife, which the professor had been researching since the late 1940s. Lars Leksell
Lars Leksell
Lars Leksell was a Swedish physician and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the inventor of radiosurgery.-Life and work:...
's son, Laurent, became chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
of Elekta until 2005, and under his leadership the company expanded into a public medical technology group with more than 2,500 employees worldwide. In 2005 Tomas Puusepp became President and CEO of the company. The company trades only in Sweden, but nearly half the sales of the company's equipment are in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
A linear Accelerator, one of Elekta's radiation oncology products.
Acquisitions
- Philips Medical Systems (the radiotherapy division; 1997)
- Neuromag (a Finnish magnetoencephalographyMagnetoencephalographyMagnetoencephalography is a technique for mapping brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by electrical currents occurring naturally in the brain, using arrays of SQUIDs...
manufacturer manufacturer; 2003) - IMPAC Medical Systems (a cancer management software company; 2005)
- CMS (a software provider for radiation treatment planning; 2007)
- Resonant Medical (a Canadian developer of visualization products for radiation oncology; 2010)
- Nucletron (brachytherapy wordwide leader), 2011