Additional key findings related to the MR-linac Consortium’s development of MR-linac presented at the conference include:

· Abdominal organ motion is complex and can occur despite motion management strategies. Abstract #3708: “Complex Abdominal Organ Motion Assessed from MRI”; (http://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(16)32699-2/fulltext) Eenas Omari, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Medical College of Wisconsin.


· Substantially improves targeting and lowers radiation dose to normal breast tissue in patients undergoing pre-operative partial breast irradiation. Abstract #3695: “Dosimetric Feasibility of Pre-operative Partial Breast Irradiation in Prone Position Using MR-linac” (http://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(16)32685-2/fulltext); Phil Prior, PhD, Medical Physicist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Medical College of Wisconsin.

· Clinically acceptable treatment plans for patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer can be created. Abstract #3150: “Dosimetric Implications for Radical Radiotherapy on the MR-linac (MRL) in Locally Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (LA NSCLC)”; (http://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(16)32129-0/fulltext) Dr. Hannah Bainbridge, Clinical Fellow Lung Team, The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, United Kingdom, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Sutton, United Kingdom.

· Online adaptive replanning is feasible for prostate cancer radiation therapy. Abstract #3639: “A Hybrid Adaptive Replanning Approach for Prostate SBRT”; (http://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(16)32627-X/fulltext) Ozgur Ates, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Medical College of Wisconsin.

· An automated QA tool can quickly identify contour errors from auto-segmentation and may have utility in online adaptive replanning. Abstract #3638 “Implementation of a Machine-learning Based Automatic Contour QA Tool for Online Adaptive Radiotherapy of Prostate Cancer” (http://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(16)32626-8/fulltext); Jing Qiao Zhang, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Medical College of Wisconsin.

Several additional presentations described the potential for MR-linac and adaptive therapy to enable dose painting – the precise delivery of varying doses of radiation to specific regions within a tumor in order to account for differences in cell type, location and density from one part of the tumor to another.

“The data presented at this conference support the potential of MR-linac as a key development in the future of radiation therapy and we are encouraged by the Consortium’s progress,” said Kevin Brown, Elekta’s Global Vice President of Scientific Research. “The use of integrated, MR imaging to improve radiation therapy is a topic of widespread interest within the community, and Elekta’s MR-linac is poised to deliver an advanced and intuitive treatment experience with the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes and our clinical customer experience.”

Elekta’s MR-linac is a work in progress and not available for sale or distribution.

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