ViewRay Inc, Cleveland, Ohio, announced the first international installation of its MRIdian System, an MRI-guided radiation therapy system that images and treats patients simultaneously, at Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) in Korea.
According to ViewRay, the MRIdian system allows clinicians to see a tumor and surrounding soft tissues both before and during treatment, enabling adaptations to changes in the patient’s anatomy.
With this installation, SNUH has the first MRI-guided therapy center in Asia. The SNUH team expects to begin treating patients in the next few weeks and intends to develop various treatment protocols and publish their research. Along with treatments of the lung, liver and breast, an area of particular interest to the hospital is the use of MRIdian for spine radiosurgery due to its ability to view the spine, spinal cord, and adjacent tissue during treatment.
“The installation at SNUH is our first overseas installation and the beginning of our international expansion as MRI-guided radiation therapy is embraced as an indispensable tool in the treatment of cancer,” said Chris A. Raanes, president and chief executive officer of ViewRay. “We are pleased to be working with such a world-class research institution. This marks the start of bringing the multiple benefits of MRIdian to patients around the world.”
According to the announcement, the Cancer Hospital at Seoul National University Hospital opened in March 2011. It is made up of 15 cancer specialty centers and nine multidisciplinary cancer treatment centers.
To learn more about the MRIdian system and the installation in Korea, see the news release on the ViewRay website.
