First patient treated with CE-marked Elekta Unity at University Medical Center Utrecht
Milestone heralds the age of personalized and precision radiation medicine for cancer patients in Europe
UTRECHT, The Netherlands, August 22, 2018 – Elekta (EKTA-B.ST) today announced that the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht has started treating cancer patients using a CE-marked, fully-integrated clinical radiation treatment workflow on the company’s high-field magnetic resonance radiation therapy (MR/RT) system, Elekta Unity.
“Elekta Unity represents a new paradigm of precision radiotherapy that enables a scan-plan-treat approach, and supports personalized regimens that meet the unique needs of the individual patients’ anatomy. Today, we are excited to announce that we have successfully completed the treatment of our first cancer patient using the CE-marked system,” said Dr. Ina Jürgenliemk-Schulz, radiation oncologist at UMC Utrecht. “The UMC Utrecht team conceptualized MR/RT as a solution to the challenge of real-time imaging during radiation delivery and is a founding member of the Elekta MR-linac Consortium. We are deeply committed to making therapeutic advancements available to our patients and are proud to utilize the groundbreaking technology of Elekta Unity.”
The first patient treated with Elekta Unity had been treated for prostate cancer 10 years ago, but subsequently demonstrated rising levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA). A small lymph node in the pelvis was detected on PSMA PET and verified by diagnostic MRI. These small nodes are often difficult to detect on regular linear accelerators, and larger treatment margins may be necessary in order to ensure that the target is effectively dosed. This results in delivery of radiation to healthy tissue, which can lead to toxicity and long-term side effects. With onboard high-field MRI, Elekta Unity is able to visualize these small soft tissue targets before and during every treatment. This allows daily adaptation of the treatment plan based on the patient’s actual anatomy.
The treatment regimen for this patient was 5 fractions of 7Gy given over a 10-day treatment period using a stereotactic IMRT approach. 1.5 Tesla MR imaging was performed on the system before every fraction for treatment planning, and during and after each dose delivery for position verification purposes.
Richard Hausmann, Elekta President and CEO, said: “UMC Utrecht’s use of Elekta Unity today demonstrates the practicality of the Unity workflow to adapt the patient’s treatment to his or her daily anatomy using real time, diagnostic quality imaging, integrated with a next generation linear accelerator. UMC Utrecht has pioneered the development and clinical implementation of Unity, and we look forward to bringing the technology to broader clinical practice for more precise cancer treatments.”
The treatment of the first patient on Elekta Unity confirms the use of diagnostic-quality MR images to enable adaptation of the patient’s treatment plan during each treatment session. This heralds a new era for radiotherapy, where the treatment plan is adjusted to the precise target location rather than the previous treatment plan. A key factor in this transformative approach has been the radical reduction in the time required to create a treatment plan from several days to a few minutes. The adaptive treatment planning ensures optimized dosing for every patient at every treatment session.
To learn more, visit elekta.com/Unity.
Elekta Unity has CE mark but is not available for commercial distribution or sale in the U.S.
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For further information, please contact:
Oskar Bosson, Global EVP Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
Tel: +46 70 410 7180, e-mail: Oskar.Bosson@elekta.com
Time zone: CET: Central European Time
Raven Canzeri, Global Public Relations Manager
Tel: +1 770 670 2524, e-mail: Raven.Canzeri@elekta.com
Time zone: ET: Eastern Time
About Elekta Unity
Elekta Unity, the first MR/RT system, combines high-field 1.5 Tesla MR imaging, precision radiation therapy and intelligent software, allowing clinicians to see what they treat in real time. Elekta Unity was CE marked in June 2018.
Elekta Unity is the first high field MR/RT system that addresses a critical unmet need in cancer therapy. Now clinicians can confidently see and track the tumor and difficult-to-visualize soft tissue anatomies during treatment and adapt the treatment to optimize therapy. This enables personalized therapy for each patient and every treatment session.
About Elekta
Elekta is proud to be the leading innovator of equipment and software used to improve, prolong and save the lives of people with cancer and brain disorders. Our advanced, effective solutions are created in collaboration with customers, and more than 6,000 hospitals worldwide rely on Elekta technology. Our treatment solutions and oncology informatics portfolios are designed to enhance the delivery of radiation therapy, radiosurgery and brachytherapy, and to drive cost efficiency in clinical workflows. Elekta employs 3,600 people around the world. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Elekta is listed on NASDAQ Stockholm. www.elekta.com.
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