Elekta, Stockholm-based manufacturer of medical equipment, reports that Elekta Unity, its transformative magnetic resonance radiation therapy system, is now in clinical use at The Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital and others across Europe. Implementation in the U.S. should begin soon.
Elekta Unity is the first system to combine high-field magnetic resonance imaging, precision radiation therapy and intelligent software — and is capable of supporting MR/RT, a personalized precision cancer therapy. Elekta Unity received the CE mark in June, 2018, and is now being clinically implemented in leading cancer centers throughout Europe.
In December, the company received notification from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, clearing the technology for commercial sales and clinical use in the United States.
Since receiving CE mark in June 2018, Elekta Unity has been transforming the care of cancer patients in Europe, and we are excited that this cutting-edge technology is now commercially available to U.S. patients, said Richard Hausmann, president and CEO of Elekta. With Elekta Unity, it is now feasible to develop personalized, precision radiation therapy regimens that are optimized for safety and efficacy and make radiation therapy a viable treatment option for more patients. 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 magnetic resonance images. Unity also integrates advanced tools that allow clinicians to adapt the patients treatment to this current anatomical information within a treatment session.
Uniting high-field 1.5 tesla magnetic resonance imaging and precision radiation therapy, the system provides a tailored solution for the new field of magnetic resonance radiation therapy (MR/RT). The combination of technologies enables the medical team to see and track the target, including changes in tumor position, shape and biology, and provides the real-time information needed for them to respond immediatelyall while the patient is on the table.
As a player on the international forefront of cancer care and research, we became a member of the Elekta MR-linac consortium because we believed that real-time, high-field imaging during radiation delivery would transform cancer care and enable new treatment regimens that offer patients improved safety and efficacy, said Marlies Nowee, Radiation Oncologist, at NKI-AvL, the Amsterdam hospital which treated its first patient with the system in September. Elekta Unity is now a reality, and we are excited to start treating our patients. The ability to see what we treat in real time and adapt treatment on a daily basis enables unprecedented precision and ensures that each patient receives the right dose, delivered to the right location, at every treatment session. We are proud to have played a role in bringing Elekta Unity into clinical use.
NKI-AvL, which is a founding member of Elektas MR-linac Consortium, recently started treating its first patient using Elekta Unity. The patient is receiving treatment for prostate cancer. The Elekta MR-linac Consortium is a collaborative industrial-academic partnership that Elekta founded with seven centers and its technology partner, Philips in 2012 to provide an evidence-based introduction of the MR-linac to the medical community, and to support the advancement of the technology.
The NKI-AvL team made critical contributions to developing the technological innovations that allow Elekta Unity to perform as no other radiation delivery system can, and we are gratified to see their patients reaping the rewards of their efforts, said Richard Hausmann, Elekta President and CEO. NKI-AvL is the second cancer center in Europe to offer MR/RT with Elekta Unity to their patients, and additional centers will be clinically implementing this personalized, precision cancer therapy in the weeks and months ahead. The strong enthusiasm for this technology within the radiation oncology community reflects its truly novel capabilities and ease with which it can be incorporated into routine clinical workflows.
To learn more, visit elekta.com/Unity.
