Ansell and Bailey's Royal Marsden MR LINAC in the News
![CANCER patients in London are to be offered the world’s most accurate form of radiotherapy in what doctors say could be a “game changer” in treating the disease. Work is under way at the Institute of Cancer Research to install the first MRI scanner that is also able to deliver bursts of radiation in “real time”, rather than requiring doctors to rely on scans taken days or weeks earlier. Clinical trials involving patients under the care of The Royal Marsden Hospital are expected to start in 2017, with 20 to 30 patients a day, including children, being treated. If the £10 million project is a success, it will offer new hope to patients with advanced breast, prostate and lung cancer, and could eradicate the need for kidney cancer surgery. The trial of the MR Linac machine is linked to pilot schemes at six other cancer centres across the world. People with brain tumours and head and neck, gynaecological, pancreatic and oesophageal cancers will also be treated. Professor Kevin Harrington, the clinical lead, said: “Over the course of the next decade the majority of patients who receive radiation with curative intent may well be treated with a machine such as the MR Linac. “There are two broad goals. The first is to make radiation far more accurate, so we are hitting the target with far greater precision. We are not ‘shooting in the dark’ at present, but we have to put margins in [around the tumour] of around 5mm. We are hoping to reduce that to 1mm, 2mm, 3mm. The volume of normal tissue we spare will be very large in comparison, and the savings in terms of side effects are potentially huge. “Secondly, not only can we use the MRI to see where the tumour is, we can look at the biological processes within the tumour. We will be watching what the tumour is doing second by second, how it is responding to the radiation.” Being able to radiate a tumour in real time is a huge step forward because many tumours move in unpredictable ways within the body. A 10m-deep bunker is being dug at the Institute of Cancer Research’s Sutton campus to house the machine. The treatment room will link to the adjacent Royal Marsden. Professor Uwe Oelfke, an expert in imaging and radiotherapy at the institute, said: “We would be entering into a new era of personalised radiotherapy.”](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/47de31_e96aedfcae50498cb5764a366fcd6c41.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_557,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/47de31_e96aedfcae50498cb5764a366fcd6c41.jpg)
The Evening Standard reported as follows:
CANCER patients in London are to be
offered the world’s most accurate form
of radiotherapy in what doctors say
could be a “game changer” in treating
the disease.
Work is under way at the Institute of
Cancer Research to install the first MRI
scanner that is also able to deliver
bursts of radiation in “real time”, rather
than requiring doctors to rely on scans
taken days or weeks earlier.
Clinical trials involving patients under
the care of The Royal Marsden Hospital
are expected to start in 2017, with 20 to
30 patients a day, including children,
being treated.
If the £10 million project is a success,
it will offer new hope to patients with
advanced breast, prostate and lung
cancer, and could eradicate the need
for kidney cancer surgery.
The trial of the MR Linac machine is
linked to pilot schemes at six other
cancer centres across the world. People
with brain tumours and head and neck,
gynaecological, pancreatic and oesophageal
cancers will also be treated.
Professor Kevin Harrington, the
clinical lead, said: “Over the course of
the next decade the majority of patients
who receive radiation with curative
intent may well be treated with a
machine such as the MR Linac.
“There are two broad goals. The first
is to make radiation far more accurate,
so we are hitting the target with far
greater precision.
We are not ‘shooting in the dark’ at
present, but we have to put margins in
[around the tumour] of around 5mm.
We are hoping to reduce that to 1mm,
2mm, 3mm. The volume of normal tissue
we spare will be very large in comparison,
and the savings in terms of side
effects are potentially huge.
“Secondly, not only can we use the
MRI to see where the tumour is, we can
look at the biological processes within
the tumour. We will be watching what
the tumour is doing second by second,
how it is responding to the radiation.”
Being able to radiate a tumour in real
time is a huge step forward because
many tumours move in unpredictable
ways within the body.
A 10m-deep bunker is being dug at the
Institute of Cancer Research’s Sutton
campus to house the machine. The
treatment room will link to the adjacent
Royal Marsden. Professor Uwe Oelfke,
an expert in imaging and radiotherapy
at the institute, said: “We would be
entering into a new era of personalised
radiotherapy.”
Tags: Healthcare Architects London UK. Medical Architecture.