Nuremberg, 18 April 2013 - Leoni, the leading provider of cables and cable systems to the automotive sector and other industries, has announced the development of the Leoni Orion patient positioning system - a new paradigm in radiotherapy treatment, an intuitive Six Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) patient positioning system for Radiotherapy.

The improving result in healing cancer with radiotherapy treatment increases its worldwide demand and hence waiting time. Faster processes become more essential, and highly accurate treatment is always vital. Patient positioning systems can considerably contribute to the fulfilment of these requirements.

As a worldwide solution provider for reliable industrial robotic as well as healthcare applications, Leoni's extensive product and service portfolio encompasses not only cable and cable systems, but also software development, programming, machine vision systems, and automated systems and training. Having been in close contact with oncology treatment centres and radiotherapy integrators for the past several years, Leoni has identified that this broad experience, as well as highly reliable and proven industrial products and solutions, should be combined to create a new paradigm in patient positioning for the medical industry: Leoni Orion (currently pending FDA 510(k) clearance and not available for sale in all markets).

Leoni Orion is fully designed for the specific needs of the medical realm. The clinical value of Leoni Orion is the intuitively operable system solution that perfectly links all hardware and software components: the robot that is able to grab the patient couch in any place by the use of a tool changing system; the 3D camera system that monitors the position of the patient in relation to the beam in real-time, correcting the position of the robot, i.e. the patient couch, if required. This, in combination with the LEONI cobotics technology, i.e. the manual guidance of the therapist translating to movement of the robot for easy positioning of the patient, creates an unprecedented new standard in radiotherapy treatment. It provides multiple benefits, all targeting quick and precise treatment: It offers dynamic patient positioning control in six degrees of freedom with sub-millimetre accuracy. The system decreases the per patient treatment cycle time by offering the possibility of preparing the patient outside the treatment room through the tool changer. Moreover, it features a high patient weight capacity and installs quickly and easily in new and existing radiotherapy centres. In addition, it is flexible and easy to use, which allows clinical staffs to provide the greatest level of patient care.

"We are excited to bring our state of the art industrial technologies, know-how and experience to the medical field, and feel confident that our innovative contribution will support and advance radiotherapy. We plan to commercially introduce Leoni Orion to the market in 2014" says Claude Burlot, Head of Sales and PMI of the Business Activity Robotics at Leoni.

For more product information please contact: fr.healthcare@leoni.com.