Radiosurgery Society® Webinar Features UCLA Doctors Discussing Clinical Experience with ViewRay's MRIdian System

Presentations Highlight MRIdian Advantages over Conventional Treatments for Abdominal Tumors and Breast Cancer

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May 09, 2016, 08:35 ET

CLEVELAND, May 9, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ViewRay, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRAY) announced today highlights from a webinar titled "UCLA Clinical Experience with MRI-guided Adaptive Radiotherapy: Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT)/Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SABR) for Abdominal Tumors and Accelerated Partial Breast Radiotherapy (APBR) for Breast Cancer," hosted by the Radiosurgery Society®, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the science and clinical practice of radiosurgery. The webinar was held on Thursday, April 21 and an archive of the full presentation and condensed five-minute version are available at http://www.viewray.com/webinars.

The one-hour webinar featured MRIdian users from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles ("UCLA") discussing their clinical experience with MRIdian, the world's first and only clinical MRI-guided radiation therapy system, since beginning treatments in October 2014.

Michael Steinberg, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at UCLA, moderated the webinar, which included presentations by Percy Lee, M.D., Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology, and Phillip Beron, M.D., Assistant Clinical Professor of Radiation Oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Dr. Lee discussed his experience treating abdominal tumors with MRIdian, specifically liver and pancreas, which were traditionally challenging to treat due to the lack of differentiation between soft tissue in the tumor and normal tissue. He spoke about the challenges of conventional radiation therapy such as the creation of artifacts by fiducial markers and the inability to see soft tissue differentiation and real-time anatomical changes. The MRIdian system was highlighted as a solution to these problems with real-time plan adaptation to account for factors like tumor shrinkage, weight loss, small bowel position, and tumor and organ deformation, which can change significantly between offline plan creation and the start of each treatment.

"CT-based treatments don't allow you to see the entire story about the patient's anatomy and the changes that take place in between and during treatments," said Dr. Lee, who also serves as the clinical director of the SBRT Program at UCLA. "MRI guidance is the next frontier in radiation therapy through its use of imaging that allows for superior soft tissue resolution, real-time tracking and plan adaptation as needed during treatment."

Dr. Beron discussed his experience using MRIdian for APBR, highlighting the system's excellent imaging and accuracy. He discussed his ability to eliminate the Planning Target Volume (PTV), a border of normal tissue surrounding the tumor that is added to the treatment plan to account for uncertainties in patient positioning, organ motion and deformation, because treatment with real-time MRI-guidance eliminates those uncertainties. In terms of short-term follow-up, he noted that APBR treatments with MRIdian have been well tolerated as demonstrated by no skin reactions, no pneumonitis, and no significant discomfort.

"ViewRay's MRIdian is our first choice treatment for partial breast irradiation because we can actually see the treatment live and reduce certain errors that are known to happen with CT-based treatment," said Dr. Beron. "We're no longer limited to the 'peek and shoot' mentality of other treatments."

The Radiosurgery Society® is a multi-disciplinary non-profit organization of surgeons, radiation oncologists, physicists and allied professionals, who are dedicated to advancing the science and clinical practice of radiosurgery. The Radiosurgery Society represents more than 600 members who perform stereotactic radiosurgery and SBRT in hospitals and freestanding centers throughout the world. More information about the Radiosurgery Society can be found at www.therss.org.

About ViewRay

ViewRay®, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRAY), designs, manufactures and markets the MRIdian® radiation therapy system. MRIdian integrates MRI technology, radiation delivery and proprietary software to locate, target and track the position and shape of soft-tissue tumors during radiation. ViewRay believes this combination of enhanced visualization and accuracy will significantly improve outcomes for patients.

ViewRay and MRIdian are registered trademarks of ViewRay, Inc.

SOURCE ViewRay, Inc.