Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in Nijmegen, Netherlands, has become the first clinic in the country to treat cancer patients with Elekta’s agility beam-shaping solution for radiation therapy.
The medical centre has used the first of the three Elekta Synergy treatment systems that it acquired from Elekta, which are equipped with Agility 160-leaf multi-leaf collimator (MLC) to treat a range of cancer patients.
Radboud clinical physicist Rene Monshouwer said the high leaf speed of Agility has made beam delivery speed faster, particularly with IMRT [Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy] plans, and added that the centre will start using Agility in stereotactic treatments in the coming months.
"These are more complex treatments involving small structures in close proximity to organs-at-risk, so we expect Agility to benefit those treatments," Monshouwer said.
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"Then, once we switch from IMRT to Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy [VMAT] for those cases, we will see a big advance in the quality and speed of treatment."
Elekta claims that the 160 leaves of 5mm size can interdigitate, allowing the treatment of island targets and multiple targets in a single session, while low leaf transmission of less than 0.5% enhances treatment delivery while reducing integral dose.
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The optical leaf positioning technology in the multi-functional beam-shaping system is designed to increase accuracy and improve the reliability of beam shaping, claims the company.
Radboud purchased the second system for the Nijmegen satellite facility, which is expected to become clinically operational in November 2012, while the third one was purchased for a satellite clinic in Boxmeer.
Image: The Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre uses Elekta’s agility beam-shaping solution to treat cancer patients. Photo courtesy of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre (UMC St Radboud).
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