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1. What innovation has MR Linac brought to Radiotherapy?
By the help of MR Linac, radiation treatment in cancer has been redefined. This device provides soft tissue imaging with a unique precision. It also provides real-time monitoring for the movements of the tumor and the organs that are under risk. It gives a higher dose of radiation to smaller areas by minimizing the damage given to the healthy tissues surrounding the tumor.
2. What is MR Linac’s distinctive feature which distinguishes it from similar technologies?
The resolution quality of MR, in other words its image quality is 1.5 Tesla, which is quite high. Besides, with its functional imaging feature, it can evaluate the responses between treatment sessions sooner. By the help of this method, depending on the treatment response, a personalized and effective treatment can be planned.
3. Why is it different from conventional Radiotherapy methods?
During radiotherapy, locating the position of the tumor was a problem as it kept changing depending on the breathing of the patients, the movement of the intestines or the movement of the internal organs. So in conventional radiotherapy beaming is performed by calculating all the areas that the tumor could move to during breathing. However, as MR Linac can observe all the tumor movements that are caused by breathing, swallowing and other normal body functions during treatment, beaming is targeted directly on the tumor and as a result healthy tissues are protected. It is able to determine all the active and the aggressive parts in the tumor and give a higher dose of radiation to this area.
Another advantage of real-time tumor tracking feature is that it enables you to track the instant changes in the tumor and rearrange the treatment plan according to these images.
4. For what cancer types is it used?
- Prostate cancer
- Gynecologic tumors
- Brain tumors
- Lymphatic metastasis
- Bone metastasis
- Recurrent tumors
- Pancreatic cancer
- Lung cancer
- Breast cancer
- Colon cancer
- Liver/hepatobiliary cancers and metastasis
5. What are its advantages for the patient?
During treatment the tumor is targeted and a maximum dose of radiation is given. This new treatment which does not target the healthy cells focuses on the tumor only and therefore it helps the patient complete the treatment without affecting their life standard after radiotherapy, which will increase the patient’s adaptation to the treatment.
Each patient is one of a kind and every one of them needs a unique treatment. MR Linac provides a personalized treatment with its clear visualization feature, real time tumor tracking feature and providing an opportunity for real time adaptive radiotherapy, which was not possible before.