News | Radiation Therapy | July 14, 2022

Presenters from Elekta Unity MR-Linac centers to reveal findings in 36 abstracts 

Users of Elekta Unity, the world’s first and only high-field magnetic resonance linear accelerator MR-Linac, continue to make great strides in their clinical and technical research harnessing the groundbreaking treatment platform

July 14, 2022 — Users of Elekta Unity, the world’s first and only high-field magnetic resonance linear accelerator MR-Linac, continue to make great strides in their clinical and technical research harnessing the groundbreaking treatment platform. Representatives from the Elekta MR-Linac Consortium are presenting 36 abstracts on MR-guided radiation therapy (MRgRT) at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) 64th Annual Meeting & Exhibition, July 10-14 in Washington, D.C.
Twenty-two of the Consortium member abstracts will focus on Elekta Unity workflow, motion management and deep learning. Anatomical sites of particular emphasis are the abdomen and heart, followed by spine, head-and-neck, liver and upper gastrointestinal sites.
“The growing number of Elekta MR-Linac Consortium member institutions – up from 60 in 2020 to 75 today – are exploring the capability and potential of MR-guided radiation therapy, at an ever-increasing rate,” says Kevin Brown, Distinguished Scientist, Elekta.
Two abstracts of note concern the use of the MR-Linac to treat moving targets. A future-looking abstract deals with treating targets in the heart, a particularly challenging disease site due to its rapid motion. However, the team from University Medical Center Utrecht shows that the Unity radiation beam can be moved fast enough to keep up with the heart using a technique called: ”MLC-tracking”. This article is titled: “Technical Feasibility of Real-Time Cardiorespiratory Motion Mitigation Using MRI-Guided MLC-Tracking on the Unity MR-Linac”.
Researchers at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center at Froedtert Hospital show that Unity is capable of gated treatments as the patient breathes – the beam is turned on (i.e., delivered) when the target is in the correct position and off when breathing puts the target out of position. The article is titled: “Gated Beam Dosimetry Properties of a 1.5T MR-Linac.”
“MLC-tracking has been successfully demonstrated for respiratory motion, but it is exciting to see that the performance of Unity is sufficient for real-time, motion-compensated deliveries for targets subject to complex cardiorespiratory motion,” Brown says. “The groundbreaking capabilities of Elekta Unity have helped users generate close to 700 abstracts and over 500 peer-reviewed articles. It is wonderful to see our user community’s excitement as they discover that Elekta Unity enables them to really ‘see what you treat’ and all that this means.”
For more information: https://www.elekta.com/products/radiation-therapy/unity/ 

Find more AAPM22 content 


Related Content

News | Breast Imaging

September 27, 2023 — Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered that radiation therapy combined with two ...

Time September 27, 2023
arrow
Feature | ASTRO | By Christine Book

September 26, 2023 — Ahead of the 65th American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting, ASTRO 2023, ITN’s ...

Time September 26, 2023
arrow
Feature | Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) | By Robert L. Bard, MD, and Lennard M. Gettz, EdD

Since the advent of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam on human patients in the late 1970s, this innovation ...

Time September 25, 2023
arrow
News | Prostate Cancer

September 22, 2023 — According to an accepted manuscript published in the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) ...

Time September 22, 2023
arrow
News | Contrast Media

September 21, 2023 — Imaging Biometrics, LLC announced the results of a study that validates IB Neuro’s processing of ...

Time September 21, 2023
arrow
Feature | Radiation Oncology

The radiation oncology community lost a leader this past summer, with the passing of Jay Loeffler, MD, FACR, FASTRO. He ...

Time September 21, 2023
arrow
Feature | Proton Therapy | By Christine Book

An overview of significant developments in proton therapy, over just the past six months, reinforces the pace of ...

Time September 21, 2023
arrow
News | Radiation Therapy

September 20, 2023 — RefleXion Medical, Inc., a therapeutic oncology company and 3B Pharmaceuticals (3BP) GmbH, a ...

Time September 20, 2023
arrow
Sponsored Content | Case Study | Radiology Imaging | By Tim Hodson

In June, the Philips Radiology Experience Tour hit the road to provide healthcare professionals with an opportunity to ...

Time September 19, 2023
arrow
Feature | Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) | By Christine Book

The world of medical imaging is marking a significant milestone in 2023: the 50th anniversary of magnetic resonance ...

Time September 19, 2023
arrow
Subscribe Now