Elekta (EKTA-B.ST) today announced that its high-field MR-linac was the focus of multiple presentations at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 2016 Annual Meeting, held September 25 – 28 in Boston. Additional abstracts presented by members of Elekta’s MR-linac Consortium also highlight the need for adaptation of radiation therapy to address moving tumors and nearby organs during treatment sessions. Naturally occurring physiological movements limit our ability to conform the treatment to the target and increase exposure of radiation to healthy tissues.

Elekta’s MR-linac will integrate an advanced linear accelerator and a 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. Combined, these systems will allow for simultaneous radiation therapy delivery and high-field MR tumor monitoring.

A joint session of ASTRO and the European Society for Radiation Oncology (ESTRO) highlighted the potential for adaptive imaging in radiation therapy during a session titled “In Room Adaptive Imaging with a Focus on MRI.” (https://online.myiwf.com/ASTRO2016/Sessions.aspx?ID=12244&sp=-1) Elekta’s MR-linac was featured in two presentations during this session:
· “Linac-based MR Device”; Christopher Schultz, MD, FACR, Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Froedert and Medical College of Wisconsin. This presentation discussed strategies for integrating MR-linac into current RT protocols and provided an overview of the development plan that the Elekta MR-linac Consortium is undertaking in order to generate the clinical, physics and quality control data that will be essential for developing and realizing the full clinical potential of MR-linac technology.

· “MRI Linac: Physics Perspective”; Bas Raaymakers, PhD, Professor in the Department of Radiotherapy at University Medical Center Utrecht. This presentation highlighted the potential to leverage the power of MR-linac technology to move from pre-treatment planning to online plan adaptation and, ultimately, to real-time plan adaptation. Dr. Raaymakers also discussed the need for novel quality assurance procedures for MR-linac devices, patients and workflow.

“Online treatment adaptation is the future of radiation therapy and it is essential for enabling surgical precision and accuracy,” said John Christodouleas, MD, MPH, Vice President of Clinical Affairs, Elekta, and a practicing radiation oncologist at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. “The Elekta MR-linac Consortium is advancing MR-linac technology toward the clinic. Data demonstrating the feasibility of MR-linac in breast, non-small cell lung cancer and other cancers also highlight required advances in the software and computer algorithms that are critical to transforming online imaging into actionable adaptive replanning.”

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