DENVER US — Friday, July 28, 2017 -- Elekta's (EKTA-B.ST) transformative magnetic resonance radiation therapy (MR/RT) system will be the subject of 21 abstracts at the 59th American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Annual Meeting & Exhibition. The meeting is taking place July 30 - August 3 in Denver.

Elekta's MR-linac is the only MR/RT system that integrates a high-field (1.5 Tesla) MR scanner with an advanced linear accelerator and intelligently-designed software. The system is expected to deliver precisely-targeted radiation doses while simultaneously capturing the highest-quality MR images, which will allow clinicians to visualize tumors at any time and adapt the treatment accordingly. Elekta introduced the MR-linac technology under the name of Elekta Unity during the ESTRO congress in Vienna, Austria in April 2017.

Two abstracts that highlight the performance characteristics of MR-linac will be presented on Tuesday, August 1, 1:45 – 3:45 p.m. in a session on MR-guided radiation therapy.
Initial Performance Tests of a High-Field MR-Linac (Abstract TU-FG-GS2-9)
This abstract reports the initial results of system level tests conducted on MR-linac by researchers at the Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center at Froedtert Hospital. The system successfully passed multiple tests assessing imaging and dosimetry performance and the study results also demonstrate successful delivery and measurement of an intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment plan. The data show that the integration of a linac and a high-field MRI does not compromise the performance of either system.

Real Time Performance of the Elekta MR-Linac Clinical Prototype (Abstract TU-FG-FS2-10)
This abstract describes results of a study undertaken to determine the ability of Elekta's MR-linac to perform real-time motion compensation. Researchers at University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) conducted the study, in which experimental software was used to investigate imaging and feedback performance. Results show that the time required to reconstruct and transport image data after acquisition was 62 milliseconds, and that overall time to gate the beam was 407.6 milliseconds, including the real-time image processing of 5 images per second. The authors conclude that these times are promising and support real-time applications of MR-linac, such as motion compensation.

"These data underscore that Elekta's MR-linac system meets the critical objectives of accurately delivering a radiation dose while simultaneously capturing high-quality MR images," said Allen Li, PhD, Medical College of Wisconsin Professor and Chief of Medical Physics at Froedtert Hospital and an author on the first abstract. "The successful delivery and measurement of an IMRT treatment plan is an important milestone in the development of Elekta's MR-linac system, which has the potential to be a revolutionary technology for cancer care."

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