Radiation oncology firm Elekta and Philips Healthcare have reached an agreement with MD Anderson Cancer Center for the center to join a research group for the development of an image-guided treatment technology that combines radiation therapy and MRI in a single system.
MD Anderson is the second member of the research consortium, following University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. The consortium will include radiation oncology centers and clinicians, Elekta and Philips said.
The hybrid system is designed to provide physicians with images of a patient's soft tissues and tumor during radiation therapy, allowing them to adapt treatment delivery in real-time.
Elekta, Philips, and University Medical Center Utrecht have built and tested a prototype system that integrates a linear accelerator and a 1.5-tesla MRI scanner.
The integrated MRI-guided radiation therapy system is in development and not available for sale.
