Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center, Eastern Wisconsin’s only academic medical center, recently started to install an investigational high-yield MR-adaptive linear accelerator (MR-linac) system developed by Elekta and Royal Philips, its MRI technology partner.
The Clinical Cancer Center is the second U.S. and the first global location to install the system, which is being evaluated functionally by organizations including the Netherlands Cancer Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, in addition to others.
For the first time, Elekta’s MR-linac integrates an ultramodern radiotherapy system with a high-field MRI scanner and software. This system enables physicians to capture images of tumors and surrounding tissues that are of diagnostic quality during radiation therapy.
“For more than a decade, the Froedtert & [Medical College of Wisconsin] Cancer Network has been at the forefront of the evolution of radiation therapy with the goal of providing more personalized treatments,” says Christopher Schultz, MD, professor and chairman of the department of radiation oncology at the Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Network. “The foundational work we’ve been doing with MRI-based treatment planning strongly positions us to be among the experts invited to help develop this latest milestone in treating cancer.”
Also commenting, Kevin Brown, global vice president of scientific research at Elekta, says: “We appreciate the continued guidance and support from the Froedtert & [Medical College of Wisconsin] Cancer Network and our other consortium members, who have been instrumental in advancing the development of high-field MR-linac. This installation marks the latest milestone in our rapid progress to make this technology a clinical reality, and we believe MR-linac will transform how radiotherapy is delivered and establish new standards of care for difficult to treat cancers.”
A work in progress, Elekta’s MR-linac is currently not available for sale or distribution.
For more information about this technology, visit Elekta.
