Elekta has announced that its Unity MRI-guided radiotherapy system (MR/RT) system has received the CE mark, clearing the technology for commercial sales and clinical implementation in Europe. Unity, the first high-field MR-linac, integrates a diagnostic quality 1.5 T MR scanner with a state-of-the-art linear accelerator.
“Receiving CE mark for Unity is a big achievement in revolutionizing the field of radiation therapy and a real watershed moment for treating cancer,” said Elekta’s CEO Richard Hausmann. “The change that MR/RT will bring in cancer therapy is paramount in advancing patient treatment. I’m thankful to the MR-linac Consortium members, Philips (our MR technology partner) and our dedicated employees for helping us reach this important day.”
Unity has the potential to transform how clinicians treat cancer by enabling delivery of the radiation dose while simultaneously visualizing the tumour 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.
Enhancing radiotherapy with MRI
“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, from University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht. UMC Utrecht is a founding member of the Elekta MR-linac Consortium and the inventor of the high-field MR-linac concept. “I am thrilled that our vision of personalized radiation therapy is becoming a clinical reality,” Raaymakers adds.
