ViewRay Inc announces that Saitama Medical University International Medical Center has purchased a MRIdian MRI-Guided Radiation Therapy System to complete its newly built comprehensive cancer center in Yamane, Hidaka-City. The MRIdian system will enable Saitama Medical University to offer advanced MRI-guided radiation therapy technology to cancer patients who are seeking personalized treatment for pancreas, prostate, lung, liver, breast, and oligometastatic cancers.
Saitama Medical University International Medical Center is slated to install its MRIdian system in December 2022, with the first patient treatments beginning in early 2023. The center is eager to utilize MRIdian’s real-time tracking and automated beam gating technology to support aggressive stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and treat complex cases. Indications of particular interest to Saitama Medical University researchers are pancreas and prostate, with a desire to participate in multi-centered international research hospital trials.
“Our focus on high-quality medical treatment with an emphasis on patient safety and satisfaction makes MRIdian a perfect addition to our cancer treatment offerings,” said Dr. Shingo Kato, Professor, and Director, Department of Radiation Oncology. “The ability to visualize and track the tumor and control the beam in real-time under MRI guidance and adapt the treatment delivery to the unique anatomical and tumor changes within each patient fully supports our patient-centered approach to care and will be of significant benefit to patients throughout the region.”
Saitama Medical University International Medical Center was established in April 2007 with the objective of contributing to regional and Japanese medicine, aiming to create an internationally competitive world-class hospital. In February 2015 Saitama Medical University International Medical Center became the first university hospital in Japan to acquire Joint Commission International (JCI) certification, demonstrating its adherence to international quality standards for medical quality and safety. The motto of the Comprehensive Cancer Center is to treat patients with cancer holistically, not treatment of tumor itself.
The MRIdian system provides oncologists outstanding anatomical visualization through diagnostic-quality MR images and the ability to adapt a radiation therapy plan to the targeted cancer with the patient on the table. This combination allows physicians to define tight treatment margins to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure of vulnerable organs-at-risk and healthy tissue and allows the delivery of ablative radiation doses in five or fewer treatment sessions, without relying on implanted markers. By providing real-time continuous tracking of the target and organs-at-risk, MRIdian enables automatic gating of the radiation beam if the target moves outside the user-defined margins. This allows for delivery of the prescribed dose to the target, while sparing surrounding healthy tissue and critical structures, which results in minimizing toxicities typically associated with conventional radiation therapy.
[Source(s): ViewRay Inc, PR Newswire]
