Elekta announces that St George’s Hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand, has ordered an Elekta Unity MR-Linac, making it the 100th device sold since its introduction. Today, the radiation therapy device is found in 14 countries across five continents.
“Elekta Unity truly is a remarkable device that is changing the perception of radiation therapy, as well as the market potential of MR radiation therapy,” according to Gustaf Salford, Elekta’s president and CEO. “We have repeatedly exceeded expectations, first by combining a linac with an MRI scanner; then selling 75 systems before the mid-2020 goal. This technical and commercial success is a testament to Unity’s clinical benefit.”
Blair Roxborough, CEO of St George’s Hospital, also spoke out about the equipment acquisition, commenting: “Our vision for St George’s Cancer Care is to be recognized as the center of excellence for cancer services. The introduction of the Elekta Unity MR-Linac holds true to that vision.”
Salford concurs. “We knew Unity would be of most interest to the top academic institutes in the first round, but private clinics such as St George’s Hospital have found it has great clinical and competitive value,” he adds. “What started as a proof of concept in 2009, Elekta’s largest research and development investment ever, has essentially become the standard of care in some regions—in the Netherlands we are about to start installation of the country’s ninth MR-Linac.”
Unity recently reached another milestone as Elekta announced that more than 500 Unity MR-Linac abstracts had been published as well as 350 peer-reviewed articles, a market-leading number in the MR-guided radiotherapy arena.