Program Information
MRI-Guided Radiation Therapy
D Jaffray
S Mutic
B Fallone
B Raaymakers
D Jaffray1*, S Mutic2*, B Fallone3*, B Raaymakers4*, (1) Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, ON, (2) Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, (3) Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, AB, (4) UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, Utrecht
MO-A-WAB-1 Monday 8:00AM - 9:55AM Room: Wabash BallroomThe concept of integrating a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner with a therapy radiation source, either a therapy linear accelerator (linac) or ⁶⁰Co, emerged as a feasible novel approach for MRI-guided radiation therapy (i.e. MRIgRT or MRgRT) in recent years. The main motivation for the technological development of such radiotherapy systems is to provide state of the art MR imaging inside the treatment room to guide the treatment delivery. MRI offers the capability to visualize soft-tissue as well as to perform physiological assessment of healthy and tumor tissues. The aim of MRIgRT is to facilitate adaptive radiotherapy by using on demand MRI data to update and personalize patient treatments.
The MRI-linac/⁶⁰Co system integration is a challenging task due to the intrinsic default incompatibility between the sub-components. Multiple interdependent issues need to be resolved in order to achieve the optimal operation of the MRI scanner and the radiation source(s) such as: a) radiofrequency (RF) interference, b) magnetic field coupling, c) perturbation of the dose deposited in tissue due to the presence of an external magnetic field, and d) escalation of patient skin dose. This translates into solving a complex optimization problem which drives the overall system architecture.
The session will provide an overview of the MRI-guided radiation therapy systems. The speakers will present the specifics of their proposed designs and the latest technological developments (hardware and software). They will also discuss key aspects related to the clinical implementation of their systems such as safety, applications, workflows, quality control, staffing models for supporting the infrastructure, and preliminary data.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the main concepts of MRI-guided radiation therapy;
2. Understand the issues and proposed solutions related to the integration of MRI-guided radiotherapy systems;
3. Understand the advantages and limitations of MRI-guided radiotherapy systems.
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