First-in-human Data Validate Potential of Elekta's MR-linac to Revolutionize Radiation Oncology

STOCKHOLM, November 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Elekta (EKTA-B.ST) today announced positive data from a study that was the first to evaluate Elekta's transformative magnetic resonance radiation therapy (MR/RT) in human subjects. Study results show that the premium quality MR imaging (MRI) system provides high dosing and positional accuracy while allowing treatment decisions to be made on the treatment table throughout radiation delivery. The study was conducted at University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands (UMCU) and the results appear in the current issue of Physics in Medicine & Biology.

Elekta's MR-linac is the only MR-guided radiation therapy system that integrates a high field (1.5 Tesla) MR scanner with an advanced linear accelerator and intelligent software. This study demonstrated the ability of the system 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. The data reported today support the feasibility and clinical utility of Elekta's MR-linac.

"These study results are very promising and we look forward to further advancing the clinical development of this transformative system, which has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of cancer," said Bas Raaymakers, Professor of Experimental Physics at UMCU. "These first clinical treatments show an outstanding level of dosimetric and geometric accuracy of the online IMRT planning and the radiation delivery based on the 1.5T MRI guidance. This approach enables the optimization of dose to the tumor while reducing exposure of healthy tissue. To date, achieving this optimization has been the key challenge in radiation therapy."

Four patients with lumbar spinal bone metastases were treated with a single fraction of 8 Gy prescribed to the target volume while the dose to the spinal cord and the remainder of the body was minimized. Quality assurance procedures were performed for the pre-treatment plan and the delivered plan and imaging analyses were conducted to determine stereotactic accuracy.

Offline QA procedures were performed to determine the dosimetric accuracy. The online generated plan as delivered on the MR-linac found a mean difference of 0.4% of the calculated dose. The geometric accuracy of online MRI guidance was validated by comparing the portal images of the IMRT segments and MRI-based calculated projections. This revealed an average beam alignment of 0.3 mm with the target as defined on the online MRI, demonstrating the stereotactic geometric system accuracy.

"These preliminary results are exciting and support the tremendous potential of Elekta's MR-linac to address some of the historic challenges to improving the safety and efficacy of radiation therapy," said Kevin Brown, Global VP Scientific Research at Elekta. "The exceptional dosimetric and geometric accuracy reported in this study support the system as a transformative approach to radiation therapy that may allow more patients to receive optimum cancer care. We recognize the leadership of UMCU and our other Consortium members in enabling a new era in radiation medicine."

To learn more, visit www.elekta.com/Unity.

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

CONTACT:

For further information, please contact:

Gert van Santen, Group Vice President Corporate Communications, Elekta AB

Tel: +31 653 561 242, e-mail: gert.vansanten@elekta.com  

Time zone: CET: Central European Time

Raven Canzeri, Global Public Relations Manager

Tel: +1 770 670 2524, e-mail: raven.canzeri@elekta.com

Time zone: EST: Eastern Time

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