RENNAZ, Switzerland, Jan. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Elekta (EKTA-B.ST) today announced that Hôpital Riviera-Chablais in Rennaz has treated the first patient in Switzerland using Elekta Unity MR-Linac, a magnetic resonance radiation therapy (MR/RT) system that enables personalized precision radiation therapy through real-time visualization of the tumor during treatment.

On January 13, the site started treating its first patient using Elekta Unity. The patient received a hypofractionated (five fractions) treatment for a pelvic lymph node tumor. The 69-year-old male was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017 which has now spread, leading to a single lymphatic metastatic lesion that is just a few centimeters from his bowel and his left ureter. This lesion would be challenging to treat with traditional radiation therapy because of potential damages to the very radio-sensitive tissues of the bowel and the ureter near the lesion. They used a PSMA PET CT for the staging.

"The ability to see the size and shape of the tumor and its position relative to nearby healthy tissue and organs is essential for improving radiation therapy outcomes," says Dr. Zohra Mazouni and Dr. Raphaël Jumeau, radiation oncologists at Hôpital Riviera-Chablais. "Elekta has been a reliable and trustworthy technology partner for many years, and we believe that Elekta Unity offers the most robust functionality of any MR/RT system. We are excited about its potential use to go beyond anatomy and provide insight into how the tumor is responding to radiotherapy at a cellular level. We believe that Elekta Unity will allow Hôpital Riviera-Chablais to remain at the forefront of providing our patients with precision radiation therapy approaches that are personalized to the specific characteristics of their tumors."
"Elekta Unity will allow us to track tumor behavior and response during the treatment course, facilitating decision-making in re-irradiation cases," says Marc Pachoud, PhD, Head of Medical Physics at Hôpital Riviera-Chablais. "The system will be particularly effective for patients with tumors that are located in parts of the body that move during the treatment session, such as tumors in the gastrointestinal system, and those that undergo morphologic changes over time, such as head-and-neck tumors. Elekta Unity will become a signature technology at Hôpital Riviera-Chablais. We are proud of being the first center in Switzerland offering this approach to our patients."

MRI Homepage