First Lung Cancer Patients Treated Using MRI-Guided Radiotherapy

One of the first treatments of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for lung cancer patients is being used with a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided radiotherapy system.

MRI-guided radiation therapy enables clinicians to see a patient’s internal anatomy in real-time and keep the radiation beams on the target when the tumor moves during treatment. SBRT is a type of radiation therapy in which a few very high doses of radiation are delivered to small, well-defined tumors to kill cancer cells while minimizing exposure to neighboring healthy organs.

The ViewRay (Cleveland, OH, USA) system, the world’s first MRI-guided radiation therapy system, is being used to treat patients at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (MO, USA). The ViewRay system provides a patented combination of simultaneous radiation therapy delivery and continuous MRI scanning for the treatment of cancer.

“Treating patients is a key milestone for ViewRay, but more importantly, it marks a significant advance in cancer care,” said Chris A. Raanes, ViewRay president and CEO. “MRI-guided radiation therapy is no longer a research quest; today, it has become real and offers physicians a new and powerful weapon for treating cancer.”

An international institution focused on cancer treatment and research, the Siteman Cancer Center has a long history of adopting and helping to develop new technology with a focus on improving patient care and outcomes. “Real-time MR guidance offers a way to treat tumors that move with respiration,” said Jeffrey Bradley, MD, a professor of radiation oncology at Siteman Cancer Center and Washington University School of Medicine. “Our physicians and physicists report the ability to see tumors move in real-time during the entire treatment. This helps to ensure that tumor targets are hit and healthy tissue is spared.”

ViewRay is a medical device company that develops sophisticated radiation therapy technology for the treatment of cancer. The ViewRay system provides continuous soft-tissue imaging during radiation therapy using MRI-guidance, so that clinicians are able to see exactly where the radiation dose is being delivered and adapt to changes in the patient’s anatomy.

The Siteman Cancer Center is the only US National Cancer Institute designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the state Missouri.

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Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis