Inspiring clinical confidence

More than a decade ago, William Beaumont Hospital (WBH) investigators launched a development process that culminated in Elekta Synergy® based on X-ray volume imaging (XVI) technology. Equipped with an advanced kilovoltage imaging system and flat panel detector technology, Elekta Synergy® provides sophisticated imaging capabilities within the reference frame of the treatment system.

The creation of XVI was spurred by ample scientific evidence on internal organ motion demonstrating that significant decreases in geometric uncertainty require the visualization of internal structures in the reference frame of the treatment system.

1992

In 1992, Dr. Wong joined the staff at William Beaumont Hospital with the assurance that he would be able to adapt kV imaging for verification purposes on a linear accelerator. This position was strongly supported by Alvaro Martinez, MD., head of the department of radiation oncology at William Beaumont.

1993

Dual beam imaging project

Dr. Wong mounted a kV source at a 45º angle (to the treatment head) to a linear accelerator for acquiring 2D radiographs of the patient. A CCD-based detector system was also constructed.

1993

Dr. Jaffray joins Beaumont staff, SL20s installed

Kevin Brown, PhD., Elekta, visited the hospital in mid-1993. Drs. Wong and Jaffray demonstrated the ease with which high quality radiographs could be acquired with kV X-rays on the experimental kV-equipped system.

1995

NIH grant catapults dual beam imaging research

The National Institutes of Health agreed to fund a research program to explore dual beam imaging under the leadership of Dr. Wong, and with co-investigators Drs. Jaffray, Di Yan and Alvaro Martinez, among several other Beaumont scientists.

1995

As early as 1995, the Beaumont team could produce X-ray volume images using MV and kV sources on a laboratory system equipped with CCD-based detectors. However, CCD-based detector sensitivity was still an issue, as the dose required to produce high quality images (10 to15 cGy) was high even for X-rays in the kV energy range.

In 1995, Dr. Brown, Dr. Wong and Dr. Jaffray agreed that it would be feasible to mount a kV source onto one of the SL20 gantries. An engineering firm in Lansing (Mich., USA) helped design an appropriate X-ray mount.

1997

SL20 equipped with kV source

In 1997, the Beaumont team designed a tube mount assembly to fit the kV source arm to an SL20 machine. The mechanical assembly for the kV imaging system was originally designed by Beaumont for MV, but was well-suited for the kV imaging application of the dual beam project. It was in this year that kV X-ray volume imaging was first achieved on the SL20 platform.

1998

Prostate Cancer Research Program funds development of flat-panel cone-beam CT system for image-guided radiation therapy.

1998

Flat-panel detector secured, XVI starts

In 1998, a 21 x 21cm aSi flat-panel detector was secured from EG&G (now PerkinElmer) for Beaumont’s kV source-equipped SL20. A careful evaluation of this technology by Drs. Jaffray and Siewerdsen demonstrated its potential for applications in image guidance.

1999

The first flat panel X-ray volume imaging was performed on the SL20 platform. At ASTRO 1999, Elekta convened the first Elekta Synergy^® Research Group meeting, uniting two of the four Elekta Synergy^® research sites; William Beaumont Hospital and the Netherlands Cancer Institute.

2000

Bigger flat panels, Elekta formal commitment

By January 2000, the SL20 was again modified with a 41 x 41cm aSi detector. Dr. Jaffray and colleagues adapted the panel to the SL20, generating the first large field-of-view flat-panel, cone beam system.

Elekta declared its formal commitment to the XVI project and Beaumont presented the first SL-based, large flat panel XVI images at that year’s ASTRO meeting in Boston (Mass., USA).

2002

Elekta Synergy^® research platform installed In June 2002, William Beaumont Hospital became one of four clinical sites to install an Elekta Synergy^® research platform complete with XVI technology.