June 18, 2018 — Elekta announced that its Elekta Unity magnetic resonance radiation therapy (MR/RT) system has received CE mark, clearing the technology for commercial sales and clinical use in Europe.
According to Elekta, Unity has the potential to transform how clinicians treat cancer by enabling the delivery of the radiation dose while simultaneously visualizing the tumor and surrounding healthy tissue with high-quality MR images. Unity also integrates advanced tools that allow clinicians to adapt the patient's treatment to this current anatomical information.
"Unity is a tremendous innovation in patient care, one that enables a scan-plan-treat approach to developing tailored regimens that should yield substantive clinical benefits," said Bas Raaymakers, Ph.D., professor of experimental clinical physics in the Department of Radiotherapy at University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht, The Netherlands. UMC Utrecht is a founding member of the Elekta MR-linac Consortium and the inventor of the high-field MR-linac concept. Raaymakers added, "I am thrilled that our vision of personalized radiation therapy is becoming a clinical reality."
Unity employs a premium high-field, diagnostic-quality (1.5 Tesla) MRI that provides unparalleled image clarity, according to Elekta. This gives clinicians greater flexibility in their approach to radiation therapy and ensures that each patient receives optimal care based on individual tumor characteristics. Unity integrates MRI, linear accelerator technologies and advanced treatment planning into a single platform, allowing clinicians to see and track difficult-to-visualize soft tissue anatomies while radiation dose is being delivered. This new technology addresses an unmet need in cancer therapy, enabling clinicians to confidently see and track the target during treatment and respond accordingly, personalizing therapy for each patient every time they are treated.
Elekta Unity has CE mark but is not available for commercial distribution or sale in the U.S.
For more information: www.elekta.com
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