Image-guided radiation therapy developer ViewRay is touting study results showing that higher radiation doses with its adaptive MR-guided radiation therapy technology may improve survival in patients with pancreatic cancer while maintaining a favorable toxicity profile.
The results were presented at the recent American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting.
The researchers examined survival and toxicity rates for two cohorts of patients: One group received a higher biologically effective dose (maxBED10 > 90), primarily enabled by the company's MRIdian MR-guided on-table adaptive radiotherapy. The other patients received a lower, more conventional biologically effective dose (maxBED10 < 90) using nonadaptive therapy. The retrospective review included 42 locally advanced pancreatic cancer patients treated with MRIdian at four institutions.
The cohort receiving the higher dose demonstrated a near doubling of median overall survival (Kaplan-Meier estimated median overall survival of 27.8 months vs. 14.8 months), according to ViewRay. Also, patients treated with higher radiation doses reported no grade 3 or higher toxicities (0%). Conversely, 15.8% of patients receiving lower doses via nonadaptive treatments experienced toxicities grade 3 or higher.
The results warrant further investigation, which ViewRay is currently conducting through its Clinical Cooperative Think Tank, a group of MRIdian medical institutions focused on evidence gathering to support MR-guided radiation therapy.
