Seneffe, Belgium, August 22, 2013, Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG has entered the Brazilian medical device market with its state-of-the-art MultiSource® system for HDR brachytherapy. The first installation has  taken place in the Hospital Angelina Caron in Campina Grande do Sul, near Curitiba in the state of Paraná.

The brachytherapy department lead by the hospital´s Managing Director, Dr. Luciano do Valle Sabóia, performs about 150 treatments per month, mainly of gynaecological cancers. "The incidence of cervical cancer is particularly high in Brazil. Generally, advances in diagnostic methods along with improvements in the health education have lead to constantly rising numbers of brachytherapy applications in our hospital in the past." stated Dra. Ieda Horst, Chief Physicist in the Hospital Angelina Caron.

After 10 years of experience in brachytherapy, the hospital is also planning to start HDR treatments of prostate cancer within this year. The MultiSource® system provided by Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG together with its integrated HDRplus™ Prostate Module for real-time treatment planning, will allow the brachytherapy team to perform prostate applications fast and accurately. "Our single point of care approach for prostate cancer treatment is supported by a multidisciplinary team of specialists. We are looking forward to enlarge our healthcare services to provide our patients with the best quality of care." explains Dr. Luciano do Valle Sabóia. "Therefore, we continually invest in new technologies and high quality devices. With the MultiSource® system, enabling automatic catheter length measurement, a precise source position check with its digital camera and the integrated the In-Vivo Dosimetry System, we have an advanced support for performing even complex treatments. Furthermore, it gives us the certainty to have a reliable system that enables a significant level of patient safety."

The clinic will be Brazil´s first user of Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG´s miniaturized cobalt-60 source. This source has been used in brachytherapy for more than 10 years and in over 220 MultiSource® systems in almost 40 countries. Due to the considerably longer half-life of more than five years and a certified 100,000 source transfers, the cobalt-60 source will allow the hospital as well as its physicians to invest less time and funds in customs matters and exchange processes while having more time for their patients.

"We are very glad to have installed the first MultiSource® in Brazil. It is a very attractive, dynamic market within a fast-growing continent. Therefore it is crucial for us to be present in Brazil, and of course in Latin America, offering our full brachytherapy portfolio and help the local physicians to provide the best patient care possible." said Abel Luzuriaga, Managing Director of Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG. "Having our subsidiary in Fortaleza, Brazil, we will be able to provide our Brazilian and Latin American customers with reliable service with shorter distances and without any language barriers".

About Hospital Angelina Caron

The Hospital Angelina Caron is one of the most important medical providers in the Southern region of Brazil. With 284 beds it is serving about 2,500 patients each day.

About Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG

Contributing to saving lives!

Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG is a European-based group active in the medical device segment of the health care industry. Its core business is the treatment of cancer using brachytherapy, a special form of radiation therapy. Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG is a leader in brachytherapy in Europe. The company headquarters are in Belgium, with a production facility in Germany and subsidiaries throughout Europe, in India and Brazil. In addition, Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG has a worldwide network of distributors and agents to support the international marketing of its product line. The company's products and equipment are intended for use by oncologists, radiologists, urologists, and medical physicists. Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG employs more than 150 people. The company has been listed on the Euronext stock exchange since April 1997.

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