BARCELONA, April 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Elekta (EKTA-B.ST) today announced that its transformative MR-linac system is featured in 42 abstracts at the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) 37th Annual Conference, taking place April 20 – 24 in Barcelona. Founding members of the Elekta MR-linac Consortium are presenting 36 abstracts and new collaborators from an ever-growing number of world-class cancer centers are presenting six abstracts. Elekta MR-linac is groundbreaking because it overcomes the technical barriers that have hindered the integration of radiation therapy with real-time high-field 1.5 Tesla (T) MR imaging. It is the only system to truly unlock the imaging capabilities of MR/RT, enabling clinicians to see what they treat in real time and offer each patient truly personalized therapy.

"For decades radiation oncologists have been challenged by the inability to see what we treat in real time, and the expansive body of MR-linac data presented at ESTRO 37 makes it clear that the dawn of a wholly new approach to radiation therapy is on the horizon," said Ananya Choudhury, MA, PhD, MRCP, FRCR, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, UK. "These data demonstrate that MR-linac has the potential to transform how cancer is treated by allowing more effective tumor targeting, providing better protection for healthy tissue and organs at risk, reducing side effects and enabling real-time adaptation of treatment plans. The ability to see what we treat has the potential to fundamentally change the way we currently treat patients and enable the radiation oncology community to dramatically improve health outcomes."

The Elekta MR-linac Consortium is a collaborative industrial-academic partnership that Elekta founded with seven centers and its technology partner, Philips, in 2012 to provide an evidence-based introduction of Elekta MR-linac to the medical community, and to support the advancement of the technology.
Key findings presented at ESTRO 37 include:

1.5T MRI-Linac treatment planning for multiple lymph node oligometastases in the pelvic area (Presentation number OC-0616, oral presentation, Monday, April 23). This study investigated the MR-linac treatment plan quality of multiple lymph node oligometastases in the pelvic area in ten patients. Results show that all treatments were delivered to the target area while protecting organs at risk. This study shows that multiple lymph node oligometastases could potentially be identified and treated on the MR-linac with plan quality and conformity that meet international criteria. Results also suggest that MR-linac may enable the use of smaller treatment target volumes, which could pave the way for further dose escalation and hypofractionation.

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