On CBCT you can’t distinguish the pancreas from the duodenum and bowel tissue, and you can’t visualize the tumor in the pancreas. On Elekta Unity, you can see the pancreas, the tumor and the duodenum. This is important because all these structures change position from day to day. With this information, you can change the patient’s treatment plan daily to compensate for these variations.
MR-guided radiation therapy (MRgRT) for pancreatic cancer
Escalate dose with certainty
Reduce margins to deliver ablative doses safely
Pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest overall survival rates of any cancer 1 . Currently, the standard of care for inoperable pancreatic cancer involves the use of non-ablative radiation doses, since the high doses required to completely eradicate tumors are deemed unsafe using conventional CT-guidance.
Elekta Unity supports the safe delivery of ablative radiation doses to pancreatic targets in just five sessions. MR-guided radiation therapy (MRgRT) enables you to see the tumor and surrounding OARs clearly for more accurate target delineation. With this superior soft tissue visualization and the ability to manage intrafraction motion, Elekta Unity allows the use of smaller margins–reducing dose to healthy tissue and supporting safe dose escalation.
The delivery of ablative doses by MRgRT has been shown to provide excellent local control for patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer, offering them a safe and effective treatment alternative.
Clinical benefits
Elekta Unity MR-guided radiation therapy for pancreatic cancer
With daily online plan adaptation and comprehensive motion management, Elekta Unity allows you to safely escalate dose and enhance outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients.
- Safely deliver ablative doses (e.g. 50 Gy in 5 fractions)
- Enhance targeting accuracy with inter- and intrafraction motion management
- Spare surrounding sensitive structures and reduce toxicity
- Increase treatment options for inoperable pancreatic cancer patients
- Gain functional imaging insights to predict tumor response
See the difference for pancreatic cancer treatments
Account for intrafraction motion
Comprehensive Motion Management with True Tracking and automatic gating monitors and accounts for intrafraction motion to ensure treatment is always focused on the target. This allows safe margin reduction and dose escalation, ultimately reducing patient side effects and improving outcomes.
Video courtesy of UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Reduce toxicity
By reducing margins to spare OARs, you can deliver ablative doses of 100 Gy biologically effective dose (BED) easily and safely. A study from Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA, reported no grade ≥3 acute toxicities 2 .
Image courtesy of UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands
Deliver SBRT with certainty
Comprehensive motion management helps to ensure that pancreatic oligometastatic targets remain within the high dose region, allowing patients to receive SBRT with minimal treatment-related toxicity. 2 .
See more clearly
Advanced MR imaging sequences, such as 3D Vane XD, reveal the anatomical relationship between the target and surrounding healthy organs at each fraction. With more accurate target definition and smaller margins, SBRT can be delivered with certainty.
Images courtesy of IRCCS Ospedale Sacro Cuore don Calabria, Italy
Clinical evidence
Learn more about how MR-guided radiation therapy is benefiting pancreatic cancer patients.
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Indications
Explore the benefits of Elekta Unity for highlighted indications
References
1. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/common.html
2. Adapted from Tringale et al. Stereotactic ablative radiation for pancreatic cancer on a 1.5 Telsa magnetic resonance-linac system. doi: 10.1016/j.phro.2022.10.003. Licenced by CC B