Proper maintenance of medical equipment is extremely important if you want to get optimal results. The most important thing to keep in mind is that linear accelerator maintenance and oncology medical equipment maintenance requires a very specialized procedure and you should always consider the most reliable teams to get this done.
Medical Equipment Maintenance
The process of giving maintenance to this kind of equipment is quite complex. This is why you can’t simply give this task to any regular maintenance provider. Choosing one that is qualified and also capable of getting the job done for an affordable cost is going to be important.
If you are looking for a good linear accelerator maintenance provider and oncology medical equipment maintenance services, you need to take the time to search for the best possible results. This is going to require that you take your time and evaluate your options in your area.
The Search for Medical Equipment Service Technicians
A good way to get started with this search is to look at the online information they have available. Not finding a website or social media is always a red flag. Any business that is considered professional in modern times should have a website of their own or at the very least a social media page with all of their information.
Another good way to find out how good they are is to give them a call. Ask about their services and what the procedure is like. You should call at least a couple of different providers in order to get the best possible results. This is going to give you enough information to decide.
Any kind of equipment that is used for medical purposes needs to be handled very carefully. This is going to be the best way for you to maintain the most reliable results when you are looking to get your expensive equipment analyzed and checked for any problems.
Final Thoughts on Maintaining LINAC Systems and CT Scanners
Once you find a good team to give maintenance to your equipment, make sure that you can come up with a good deal that is going to be beneficial to both parties in the long term. This is going to be the best way for you to get maintenance done without having to worry about the hassles of hiring someone new all the time. This is going to be very important to make your equipment last longer.
Learn more about Radparts and the variety of services and parts they offer to repair medical equipment including: linear accelerators parts, CT scanners parts, linac parts, and radiation oncology equipment at www.radparts.com. To contact one of our medical equipment repair specialists for parts or service call toll free 877.704.3838 for 24/7/365 support.
External-beam radiotherapy systems that that employ real-time or near real-time MRI guidance show much promise as a new technique to treat cancer. Prototype hybrid MRI-Linac systems are being evaluated as modalities to deliver high precision ablative radiotherapy.
Researchers at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto are investigating the feasibility of using an MRI-Linac to treat breast cancer patients, using hypofractionated partial breast irradiation (HPBI). Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Centre is evaluating a clinical prototype of Elekta’s MRI-Linac. Its clinical staff believe that the system’s online visualization and tumour contouring capabilities, combined with the ability to reduce internal motion margins using multileaf collimator tracking or exception gating from real-time MR images, will be advantageous for treating intact breast tumours.
However, one concern is that treatment with an MRI-Linac can cause elevated radiation doses to the skin. The ever-present magnetic field can create electron return effects (ERE), in which electrons liberated at tissue–air and tissue–lung interfaces curl back on themselves and deposit larger radiation doses in tissue at these interfaces.
Sunnybrook’s Anthony Kim and colleagues
Medical physicist Anthony Kim and colleagues conducted a simulation study to determine the impact of the magnetic field on HPBI dose distributions. After evaluating a tangential beam arrangement (TAN), 5-beam intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT), the researchers confirmed their hypothesis that the magnetic field increases the skin dose. The magnetic field had clinically negligible effects on radiation dose to the heart and the lung (J. Appl. Clin. Med. Phys. doi: 10.1002/acm2.12182).
Impact of the magnetic field
The researchers developed treatment plans for five patients who did not have surgery due to metastatic disease or severe medical comorbidities. They analysed a total of seven tumours close to the skin, with planning target volumes (PTV) of between 37.3 cc and 341.1 cc. For each tumour, treatment plans for the three beam geometries were optimized with and without a 1.5 T magnetic field, using the same PTV isocoverage for all six plans.
The authors used the same patient image data and target contours as used clinically. They evaluated two skin depths, 3 and 5 mm, to determine whether magnetic dose effects were more prevalent closer to the patient’s external surface.
All plans had acceptable PTV coverage. The authors reported that with the magnetic field on, the skin dose was considerably higher for the TAN plan compared with the IMRT plan, which in turn delivered a higher dose to the skin than the VMAT plan.
The skin dose correlated with the number of beam angles used. Specifically, skin dose can be reduced by increasing the number of beam entry angles. Hence, in the presence of a magnetic field, VMAT spared the skin more than IMRT, which in turn spared more than the TAN beam arrangement. Also, the researchers found that the ERE due to the magnetic field was greatest very near the surface of the skin.
The authors explain these phenomena by the fact that the ERE tends to have much less impact at the entry points compared with the beam exit points. Only the beam angles near the tumour created a higher magnetic field dose. The ERE had a much larger impact with TAN radiation delivery compared with IMRT or VMAT delivery when the beam angles were spread far more apart.
Based on their analyses, the authors stated, “The number of beam angles matter, and it is likely that beam arrangement also matters… Skin dose is significantly impacted not only by the magnetic field, but also varies with depth and when increasing the number of beam angles.”
The MRI-Linac is currently being installed at Odette Cancer Centre. “The installation will be completed soon, and in the early part of 2018 we will be conducting basic physics research and volunteer MR imaging, to evolve our understanding of this device ahead of treating patients,” Kim told medicalphysicsweb. “We have been able to do some basic groundwork with respect to how to best optimize these plans without adverse effects. This groundwork has been possible because of our access to the radiation treatment planning system (Elekta’s Monaco) that can simulate the MRI-Linac beam on actual patient data.”
Original Source: medicalphysicsweb.org/cws/article/research/70214
The number of internal injuries and diseases are increasing. People are now concerned about their well-being and to assure that they are healthy they undergo regular checkups. Sometimes they have to get the CT scan done.
There are different machines of CT scan and Linear accelerators available in the hospital. With the help of the internet, patients know everything about the best products and that is why they want to be tested and treated with the latest items. In case you are unable to buy the recently, introduced machinery you can have the replacement parts for Linear Accelerators. Here we have a few reasons that why it will be a beneficial choice.
Durability
Most of the hospitals and laboratories have the old machinery. They might be durable but their life is coming towards an end. It is important that you get all the parts replaced because the new parts will be developed with the best quality material and they will have the features that might be useful for you in the present age.
Improve performance
The overall performance of machines will be improved with the help of replacement parts for CT Scanners. The machine will be as good as new. You will notice that it will take less time to test the patient and generate the result. You will notice that the quality of the results will be enhanced as well.
Cost-effective
One of the biggest benefits that you will get from replacement parts for Linear Accelerators is that it will be an affordable solution. You will not have to change the entire machine and when you will order the parts in bulk you will get special discounts and free installation offers that will provide you the chance to save some extra money.
Energy-efficient parts
With the advancement in technology many unique and innovative features have been introduced in the machinery.
The parts will be operated on less voltage that will help you to save energy
You will be able to save a huge amount on the electricity bills in the long run
You can even get the parts repaired for the best possible effects and results
When the patients will notice that there are replacement parts for CT Scanners available. They will get the idea that you will get the machines refurbished according to the latest technologies. They will have the peace of mind that you will provide the best facilities. In this way, your services will be recommended and most of the patients will visit your clinic or lab for tests.
Bottom line
There are many retailers in the market that are dealing with the replacement parts for Linear Accelerators. Make sure that you select the one who will provide you reliable items and products.
We have been providing our customers with the best products and replacement parts. All you have to do is let us know your requirements and we will assure to deliver the items and our professionals will provide the installation services.
Learn more about Radparts and the variety of services and parts they offer to repair medical equipment including: linear accelerators parts, CT scanners parts, linac parts, and radiation oncology equipment at www.radparts.com. To contact one of our medical equipment repair specialists for parts or service call toll free 877.704.3838 for 24/7/365 support.
CERN, the European nuclear physics research organization, is contemplating the development of a particle accelerator three times larger than the Large Hadron Collider that confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson, a move intended to match growing Chinese ambitions in particle physics.
Fabiola Gianotti, CERN’s director general, said in an interview that the organization has begun design studies for a new circular super-collider that would be between 90 to 100 kilometers long. CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, currently the world’s highest energy particle accelerator, measures 27 kilometers.
The collider is famous for finding the Higgs boson in 2012, considered one of the most important discoveries in particle physics in decades. The particle helps explain how the visible universe holds together.
Chinese scientists would like to build a electron-positron circular collider twice the size of the LHC, which smashes protons together. After building this initial accelerator, China would eventually expand it into an even bigger proton collider. But initial plans to start construction in 2021 suffered a setback when the Chinese government opted not to fund the collider in its 2016 five-year plan. The research team will now to need to wait until 2020 to apply again.
Fabiola Gianotti
Photographer: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
The effort is controversial. Chinese-born physics Nobel winner Chen Ning Yang, a U.S. citizen, argued last year that China, as a still developing country, could not afford the project, which is expected to cost as much as $6 billion in its initial phase.
Gianotti, who is the first woman to head the European nuclear research agency, said she welcomed the Chinese proposals. “I think it is very good to have competition,” she said. “It is very good to have different regions of the world that are interested in fundamental physics and consider that the outstanding questions today in particle physics are worth building the next generation particle collider.”
But Gianotti said it was unlikely that both CERN and the Chinese would actually complete construction of their massive projects. “I don’t think the world can afford two such colliders,” she said, adding it was important to “optimize” available scientific expertise and financial resources for the sake of advancing science.
“There is no point having two similar accelerators,” she said.
She said that while CERN has begun initial planning for its own massive super-collider, it had not yet produced cost estimates. The growing interest from China could help Gianotti make the case for its 100-kilometer ring or for alternative proposals, such as a high-energy electron and positron accelerator known as the Compact Linear Collider. Gianotti said which project CERN will pursue would be decided in a review of Europe’s particle physics strategy in 2019.
Gianotti described the relationship with China as being collaborative as well competitive. Three CERN scientists sit on the international advisory panel for China’s electron-positron accelerator. Gianotti said discussions had taken place about strengthening CERN’s work with China and that she plans to travel to China next year for further talks.
Higgs Discovery
After discovering the Higgs boson, an elementary particle that the so-called Standard Model of physics postulates is fundamental to giving objects mass, the LHC underwent a two-year retrofit. CERN upgraded the electro-magnets that allow the collider to accelerate particles to velocities approaching the speed of light, as well as the cryogenic refrigerators that keeps those magnets cooled. The new machine, which has been running since April 2015, operates at energy levels about 75 percent greater than the LHC did when it found the Higgs in 2012 and it produces almost triple the number of collisions per second.
Many hoped the upgrade would allow the LHC to move beyond the visible universe and find evidence of dark matter and exotic new particles that are not accounted for by the Standard Model. But so far, Gianotti said, the LHC has not found any conclusive evidence.
“The Higgs boson behaves very much like the Standard Model predicts,” she said, while cautioning that the experimental precision of the LHC is not yet high enough to exclude that Higgs is part of a broader theory beyond the Standard Model.
The LHC is due to undergo another major upgrade starting in 2024. This turbo-boosted collider is known as the High Luminosity LHC.
“At the moment, large uncertainties still exist,” Gianotti said referring to the precision of the LHC results. “We hope that with more data and the advantage of the luminosity upgrade of the LHC, which will extend the full program of the Large Hadron Collider to 2035, by that time we will reduce the uncertainty on several measurements by some large factor.”
Processing all the information the High Luminosity LHC produces will pose a monumental challenge of its own. CERN scientists this week released a paper in which they forecast that by 2026 the computing capacity required for experiments run on the collider will be 50 to 100 times greater than today, with data storage needs running into many exabytes. (By way of comparison, all the words ever spoken by humans are estimated to be about 5 exabytes, according to a 2003 report from the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Information Management and Systems.)
The CERN scientist think improvements in computing technology will be able to meet only 10 to 20 percent of these needs without additional cost. So the physics agency is calling for a major research and development effort to solve the bottleneck with more efficient software coding, changes in data center infrastructure and more use of advance machine learning techniques. CERN works with partners such as Intel Corp., Oracle Corp., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., and Siemens AG, on many of these efforts.
CERN, which has a budget of about 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.04 billion) per year, is funding this upgrade to the LHC out of its existing finances, Gianotti said.
“For a researcher like me, perhaps the best reward is a surprise,” she said. “Nature is always more clever, and perhaps also more simple and more elegant, than the human brain. So it may be the all the models that mankind have developed, these are not what Nature has finally chosen.”
CERN has collaboration with U.S. physicists, with American researchers running experiments at CERN’s LHC and CERN scientists working on neutrino and dark matter research at the Stanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. Some are concerned this research could be jeopardized by an almost 20 percent funding cut for high energy physics research and nuclear research proposed by President Trump in his 2018 budget.
Gianotti said she was optimistic that this funding would be restored by the U.S. Congress before it passes a final spending bill. “I remain pretty positive things will be okay,” she said.
The rise in a number of people suffering from cancer along with the increasing investment in healthcare has resulted in new diagnostics and treatment options. Innovation in technologies such as imaging technologies, linear accelerators and diagnostic devices have made the radiotherapy treatment highly effective. However, to introduce more cost-effective and better treatments, radiotherapy device manufacturers are using software solutions and are also combining technologies to improve outcome and provide better patient care.
Companies are working towards introducing cost-effective solutions. While researchers are studying the various mode of treatment that will offer the best outcome. Researchers are trying to reach the point where it will be easy to suggest particular treatment for the specific type of cancer.
According to the latest report by Future Market Insights (FMI), North America radiotherapy device market is anticipated to gain 34% market share between 2017 and 2027. While Western Europe is expected to have 30% market share by the end of 2027. The North America market is projected to exceed $3,500 million market valuation by 2027 end. By the end of 2027, Western Europe is estimated to exceed $3,100 market value. Radiotherapy device market is a well-structured market and poses a good opportunity for growth. As the market is governed by strict regulations such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Medical Device Regulatory Approval Process and more such regulations in different countries.
New technologies to drive demand for radiotherapy devices
New devices made using innovative technologies are gaining popularity among healthcare providers and patients. However, more research is being conducted to validate these devices before being used. For instance, IsoRay, a medical technology company has received a response from FDA for its GammaTile radiation therapy system. FDA has asked the company to submit additional data to secure clearance for GammaTile device. According to the company, additional testing of the device is expected to be completed by 2017 end. Once the clearance is received, GammaTile device will be able to address the need for the treatment of recurrent brain tumors. In the clinical trials, around 80 patients have been treated using the GammaTile device.
Elekta, an equipment and software provider to improve cancer and brain disorders, along with clinicians developed Venezia, an advanced gynecological applicator to be used in the treatment of advanced stage cervical cancer.
Next-gen MRI guided radiation therapy device
FDA recently approved ViewRay’s MRIdian Linac system, the first kind of device combining MRI guidance along with linear accelerator radiation. This device helps to visualize the movement of tumors and organs in real time during radiation treatment. The new device can be used to plan treatment during radiation procedures. The device uses magnetic resonance imaging to differentiate between different types of tissue while delivering more radiation to the tumor than to the surrounding tissue.
Governments of various countries are also allocating budget for cancer research and treatment. This is resulting in the development of new radiotherapy devices using advanced technology. This is also leading to the development of cost-effective solutions with enhanced treatment capabilities.
Many different types of medical items are used on a large scale. It is important to keep these medical devices in good condition. There are many companies that sell refurbished medical equipment along with replacement parts that are commonly needed during times of failure. These companies help make sure that users can continue to use them with ease and that they remain safe from problems. It is important to choose a reputable and reliable dealer in order to get linear accelerator and radiation oncology replacement parts.
Components to repair and maintain other types of medical equipment are also available from these companies often along with a number of other medical supplies to choose from. Medical facilities should work directly with suppliers of replacement parts for medical equipment. This helps to ensure that they have access to parts and services when and if a piece of equipment fails.
Many companies have online modes that are helpful in making selections of the types of things that are needed to fix and maintain medical equipment, including linear accelerators and other types of radiation oncology equipment.
There are a number of companies that work to provide replacement parts for medical equipment however only a few of them specialize in providing high quality, user friendly, low cost parts and support for linear accelerators and various types of radiation equipment.
When you are using medical equipment on a daily basis it is important that you set up a service schedule that helps to maintain them to ensure that they run for an extended period of time.
Servicing of medical equipment is needed on a regular basis to keep the equipment ready for use, safe from germs, and maintained. Professional medical service technicians can ensure that your equipment is in proper working order.
Medical equipment can be quite costly to repair therefore it is better to keep equipment in proper working order and maintained to prevent it from needing to be repaired.
It is not necessary to purchase new radiation equipment just because the older equipment has problems. Most of the time simple tweaks and upgrades can allow an older piece of machine to run that service technicians can easily perform allowing the machine to run like new again.
Facilities can use radiation oncology replacement parts in order to make sure that your machines can work normally. These types of parts are high in demand and used on a large scale in medical field. There are many makers of these types of parts in the medical field. These offers are helpful in making selection for the best dealer.
Service providers can compare offers from makers of these things and get the desired things from your chosen dealer. Online websites allow medical facilities to compare the items at any time and place order to get them. They can check payment options on internet through which you can get the desired things at the desired places with special discounts.
Learn more about Radparts and the variety of services and parts they offer to repair medical equipment including: linear accelerators parts, CT scanners parts, linac parts, and radiation oncology equipment at www.radparts.com. To contact one of our medical equipment repair specialists for parts or service call toll free 877.704.3838 for 24/7/365 support.
Are you wondering if it is safe to buy used linear accelerators? Thanks to the unrelenting spirit of radiation technology expert’s linear accelerators continue to maintain their place among the most sophisticated tools in the treatment of cancer. They produce and deliver radiation with the utmost precision and thus are one of the main equipment sources in our fight against cancer. In order to stay within a budget for medical equipment, medical facilities often consider refurbished equipment such as linear accelerators.
A refurbished linear accelerator does not mean that the machine is faulty or ineffective. In fact many times a refurbished linear accelerator is tested more thoroughly then new OEM equipment. A refurbished linear accelerator may have been used, parts replaced but still in pristine conditions. The machine might have been used in one of the largest institution and perhaps it has been sold because they have upgraded theirs or have proceeded with a new machine or option in treatment.
There are many reasons to invest in a refurbished linear accelerator. It allows you to meet the new challenges in treatment without maximizing the budget on a single piece of machinery. This is extremely helpful when opening a center, expanding a facility, bringing new treatments to your hospital, when budgeting is crucial.
Refurbished linear accelerators are pretty much essential so having a back up piece of equipment often pays off in a big way. When your main machinery fails your facility will not stall because you have furnished your facility with a spare refurbished linear accelerator.
When you are able to invest in more machinery your facility may be able to offer more and better treatment. The new refurbished equipment will allow your medical facility to turn into the go-to location for treatment therefore leading to expansion.
Refurbished medical equipment allows facilities to have peace of mind. Reliable equipment that has been tested relentlessly can live up to providing proper treatment to patients. When equipment needs to be maintained hiring a specialized medical equipment service company is important. Many times refurbished components can actually be used to maintain and repair equipment.
Outsourcing medical equipment repairs also saves companies money as they are not required to keep a technician on staff. A reliable repair team that is able to service your machinery as repairs and maintenance are needed remain a part of the crucial aspects of ensuring the prosperity of your facility and the positive results of treatment.
Learn more about Radparts and the variety of services and parts they offer to repair medical equipment including: linear accelerators parts, CT scanners parts, linac parts, and radiation oncology equipment at www.radparts.com. To contact one of our medical equipment repair specialists for parts or service call toll free 877.704.3838 for 24/7/365 support.
As a student practicing medicine or someone who owns a medical clinic you know the costs you have to incur in order to get new equipment. If you keep your equipment regularly maintained it will last longer but that does not mean that there are no chances of things breaking down.
Fortunately, most of the medical equipment can be repaired using the services of technicians. Repairs ranging from oncology equipment replacement parts to Varian replacement parts can be made which means that you do not have to invest in new, expensive equipment. If you are looking to find specialists, this article will help you locate good technicians for your equipment.
Consult Fellow Doctors
As the owner of your clinic, there is a strong chance that you will have a lobby of people who will be experiencing the same routine you are experiencing as a doctor. Suppose you require oncology equipment replacement parts but are not sure where to look but you have a lobby of fellow doctors; you should look no further than them.
Ask around to see if any of them faced an issue with their equipment and you might get to know where they went for repairs. If you go for repairs and give the reference of their regular customer then there is a chance that you might get a discount too, which makes the task a lot more fruitful.
Search Online
These days, online forums are the best places to go if you need reviews about something or wish to know of some services which might be near you. These forums are quite efficient in letting you know where to go and what prices you can expect, so if you have no clue where to start your search from, online forums are your saviors.
In case your needed repairs are very technical like Varian replacement parts, which cannot be found everywhere, these forums prove to be even more effective. The technicians they can hook you up with will most of the times be very professional in their jobs, so the chances for your search to bear fruit will be plenty.
Look for Advertisements
Newspapers and online pamphlets are great ways for technicians to promote themselves and if you are looking for a technician who can provide you with material like oncology equipment replacement parts and can personally install it, there is no harm in contacting him/her through the means specified in the document.
This method has more of a risk associated with the costs involved and the quality of work, in the case of highly specific equipment like Varian replacement parts, because the person you are getting in touch with may not be as efficient as you want him/her to be, but that is where you can use the internet again to question about the service in forums. All in all, there is always a starting step when you are doing something for the first time, so you can only aim for reducing the risk involved, not eliminating it.
Learn more about Radparts and the variety of services and parts they offer to repair medical equipment including: linear accelerators parts, CT scanners parts, linac parts, and radiation oncology equipment at http://radparts.com/services.php. To contact one of our medical equipment repair specialists for parts or service call toll free 877.704.3838 for 24/7/365 support.
Medical facilities want top notch equipment with the latest gadgets to assist their patients getting the best treatments and preventative care that they deserve. Having devices such as linear accelerators saves lives and purchasing them from a good company is fundamental. Getting devices which meet industry requirements help to ensure that clinical experts are able to operate them successfully and help them to get the information that they need.
Purchasing the right equipment for diagnosis and treatment requires clinical facilities to spend time and money looking. This machinery has a huge impact on the facility. Dependable devices save time and money. This is so true when it comes to linear accelerators and their use in the treatment of cancer.
The technology used in conventional linear accelerators is essentially the same for all linear accelerators. The high energy generation can be achieved either by implementing the “travelling waveguide technology” or by implementing the “standing waveguide technology”. The first approach is simple and reliable while the second features a more stable treatment beam. The generated radiation beam is flattened and shaped using collimation devices to form a beam matching the shape of the tumour.
The wave guide, the filters, and the collimator are mounted on a gantry which rotates around the patient allowing the tumours to be irradiated from multiple directions. There is a linear accelerators patient coach especially designed to allow irradiation of the patient from multiple direction. However choosing a device that is easy to service is important as well. Get something that many companies are capable of fix and keep in running order as this is extremely important.
Medical diagnostic device make sure that everything is running well and it’s important in ensuring that all equipment is working the way that it is meant to. Having functioning medical devices is one of the most essential matters that any medical facility can do as they provide many essential diagnostic tools to medical professionals.
Linear accelerator service techs are responsible for radiotherapy and associated medical equipment health care facilities all over. This includes supervision of installation, acceptance and responsibility for the maintenance and service of this equipment during its life cycle. The technicians consult with Physicists, Oncologists, Radiologists, Radiation Therapists, Medical Radiation Technologist and Management to determine levels of service and to mitigate downtime.
The tech is involved in equipment acquisition by offering advice on technical and service specifications. This is one of the main reasons that replacement parts for linear accelerators and other radiation oncology equipment are in high demand. When a piece of radiation equipment breaks down it is crucial to the treatment of patients that it is repaired quickly to avoid downtime in patient care.
There are several applications that linear accelerators offer throughout medical facilities including:
Radiation Treatment For Cancerous Tumours
Linear accelerators are mainly known as the machine that is used in radiation therapy to target cancerous tumours. Linear accelerators accelerate electrons. When they are speeding up, that is when they would be getting the heavy metal target.
LINAC Treatment
This treatment is similar to the laser technique which is used in a wide variety of cosmetic treatments. This ensures that the healthy cells and issues around the area where it is focused are not destroyed as well.
MRI
Linear accelerators are also used in MRI tests. In this test, the scanning of the different body parts is conducted in order to find out whether there is any problem with these body parts.
Learn more about Radparts and the variety of services and parts they offer to repair medical equipment including: linear accelerators parts, CT scanners parts, linac parts, and radiation oncology equipment at http://radparts.com/services.php. To contact one of our medical equipment repair specialists for parts or service call toll free 877.704.3838 for 24/7/365 support.
Elekta (EKTA-B.ST) announced today that five leading cancer research centers joined with the seven founding members of the Elekta MR-linac Consortium to share research and discuss clinical trial plans for Elekta’s MR-linac system. The 10th annual consortium meeting was held in Amsterdam at The Netherlands Cancer Institute. The consortium is a global research partnership established in 2012 to help bring MR/RT to the clinic and transform the use of radiation therapy in the treatment of cancer.
The founding members of the Elekta MR-linac Consortium are: University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands (UMCU); The Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; the Institute of Cancer Research, working with its clinical partner The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, England; Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center at Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK and the Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
Clinicians and scientists from the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada; Odense University Hospital, Denmark; Tübingen University Hospital, Germany; Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden; and William Beaumont Hospital, United States also participated in this year’s consortium meeting.
Elekta’s MR-linac is the only MR/RT system that integrates a high-field (1.5 Tesla) MR scanner, from MR technology partner Philips, with an advanced linear accelerator and intelligently-designed software. The system is expected to deliver precisely targeted radiation doses while simultaneously capturing highest-quality MR images, which will allow clinicians to visualize tumors and surrounding normal tissue at any time and adapt the treatment accordingly. Elekta introduced the MR-linac technology under the name of Elekta Unity during the ESTRO congress in Vienna, Austria in April 2017.
“The 10th Consortium meeting demonstrated the high collaborative capacity of our consortium across different disciplines and geographies,” said Kevin Brown, Elekta’s Global Vice President of Scientific Research. “We are gratified that the consortium continues to generate data that demonstrates the technical functionality and clinical utility of our MR-linac system and expect that the input from the additional sites will further expand the robust body of evidence supporting MR/RT as a transformative approach to radiation therapy.”
“The development of MR-linac has truly been a global effort, and the participation of clinicians and scientists from five additional cancer centers in this year’s meeting has underscored the value of including insights from a broad array of experts,” said Christopher Schultz, MD, FACR, Medical College of Wisconsin Professor and Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology, at the Froedtert & MCW Cancer Network and Chair of the Elekta MR-linac Consortium. “As MR-linac advances toward the clinic, we will continue to seek input from radiation oncologists, medical physicists and imaging experts around the world. We believe that this broad and inclusive approach is the most effective way to ensure that our vision for MR/RT meets the needs of patients, physicians, and cancer care centers.”
Key discussion points of the Consortium meeting were:
Planning pre-clinical and clinical studies to establish the added value of MR/RT in specific tumor types and cancer indications. These include indications commonly treated with radiation therapy as well as cancer types for which radiation therapy is not typically used due to difficulties in discriminating between the tumor and surrounding soft tissue.
UMCU highlighted its successful first-in-man treatments on Elekta’s MR-linac system and presented the accuracy results to the group.
Updates from consortium centers on their volunteer imaging programs.
“MR-guided radiotherapy has the potential to transform the treatment of cancer by enabling more precise, adaptive tumor targeting, and we are excited about helping to bring this important advancement to patients,” said Michael Milosevic, MD, Director of Research, Radiation Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Vice-Chair (Research) Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto. “The Consortium has been very effective at promoting collaborative innovation in MR-guided radiotherapy and we look forward to continuing to move this evolving area of radiation oncology and precision cancer medicine forward.”
“The MR-linac consortium together with the five new centers is an impressive novel network within the radiation oncology community,” said Daniel Zips, MD, Chair, Professor Radiation Oncology at Tübingen University Hospital. “Mastering the new technology towards innovation in radiation therapy requires joint efforts and combined expertise. The Tübingen group is happy to contribute to this endeavor which will bring radiation oncology to the next level.”
The growing body of evidence supporting Elekta’s MR-linac system as the first to truly enable MR/RT will be showcased at the 59thAmerican Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Annual Meeting & Exhibition (July 30 – August 3, Denver) and the upcoming 2017 ASTRO Annual Meeting (September 24-27, San Diego).
Original Source: http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Elekta-MR-linac-Consortium-Brings-Founding-Members-Together-With-Clinicians-From-Five-New-Centers-to-Highlight-Progress-1002230871
