The courage that helped Lance Armstrong beat cancer and win cycling's most prestigious race inspired hundreds of people yesterday at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, where he introduced new cancer-fighting technology that uses precise beams of radiation to target tumors.

"I never would have won the Tour de France without the illness," Armstrong said at the event, during which the hospital also announced it would name the cancer center after Geaton A. DeCesaris Jr., 47, of Lothian and his wife, JoAnne, in honor of their $3 million contribution.

Irene Repka, 43, of Annapolis, a nurse on leave from Anne Arundel Medical Center, was one of the cancer patients who attended yesterday's event.

"I like to see people who've made it," said Repka, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in July and is undergoing treatment. "It's inspiring."

Armstrong was on hand as a spokesman for BrainLAB Inc. of Munich, Germany, the company that produces one of the cancer-fighting technologies that the center recently bought.

Called Novalis, the device uses beams of radiation to treat tumors in the brain, head, neck, spine, liver, lung and prostate without hurting surrounding tissue.

When the device becomes operational next month, the center will be the only location in the mid-Atlantic region to have the technology, officials at the medical center said.

"What we are introducing today is an investment in technology ... to offer new hope," said Dr. Stanley P. Watkins Jr.