University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center Becomes First in the World to Treat Patients with MRIdian's Soft-Tissue-Tracking-Beam Control

CLEVELAND, Sept. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The MRIdian™ (me-rid-i-an) system from ViewRay™, a privately held medical device company, is now being used to treat patients at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center in Madison, Wisconsin, the second clinical group in the world to treat patients with MRI-guided radiation therapy. With yesterday's treatment, the center also became the first clinic in the world to employ the soft-tissue tracking beam control feature of ViewRay's MRIdian system.

The MRIdian system is the world's first and only MRI-guided radiation therapy system. It uniquely provides continuous imaging during treatment so clinicians are able to see where the radiation dose is being delivered and adapt to changes and movement in the patient's anatomy in real-time. The system tracks soft-tissues of the tumor directly, in fast planar images, then automatically compares the target to the plan and only allows treatment when the target is in range.

"We had a patient with very limited treatment options," said Michael Bassetti, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. "The size and location of this patient's liver tumor combined with the large observable motion prevented the safe delivery of treatment with X-Ray based linac systems. With ViewRay's MRIdian system, we were able to ensure the accuracy of the delivery by directly tracking tumor and normal soft-tissue movement during treatment."

The first MRI-guided radiation therapy patient at Carbone Cancer Center was a liver cancer patient who was treated with the soft-tissue tracking beam control feature employing a 5 mm margin on a breath-hold scan acquired on the system.

"I am grateful UW-Madison can now provide this remarkable treatment approach to our patients," said John Bayouth, Ph.D., Professor and Chief of Physics at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. "MRIdian enabled us to meet demanding prescription goals through its ability to track the actual tumor and surrounding normal tissues in real-time.  We minimized the radiation dose to the bowel and normal liver while verifying the dose delivered to the tumor during treatment delivery.  No longer do we have to assume what is happening inside the patient during treatment, now we are able to see changes and respond accordingly."

"We are excited to be one of the first centers to use MRI-guided radiation therapy in clinical practice," said Paul Harari, M.D., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Human Oncology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. "Continual MR image-guidance and control is unique to the MRIdian system with the potential to change the way clinicians treat cancer patients."

About ViewRay
ViewRay Incorporated of Cleveland, Ohio, is a privately held medical device company developing advanced radiation therapy technology for the treatment of cancer. The MRIdian system provides continuous soft-tissue imaging during treatment, using MRI-guided radiotherapy, so that clinicians are able to see where the actual radiation dose is being delivered and adapt to changes in the patient's anatomy. For more information, visit http://www.viewray.com.

About the Carbone Cancer Center
An integral part of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, the Carbone Cancer Center unites more than 280 physicians and scientists who work together in translating discoveries from research laboratories into new treatments that benefit cancer patients. Its mission is primarily achieved through research programs that bring scientists together from many different disciplines. More than 30,000 people are seen annually for diagnosis, therapy, follow-up care or consultations at UW Hospital and Clinics, as well as our other clinical locations. UW Hospital and Clinics is consistently in the top 25 of 50 hospitals providing the best cancer care and research efforts in U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Hospitals", which is published annually. Most recently, UWHC was named the number one hospital in Wisconsin in this report.

ViewRay and MRIdian are trademarks of ViewRay Incorporated.

ViewRay acknowledges the contribution of the State of Ohio, Department of Development and Third Frontier Commission, which provided funding in support of the MRI Technology Enabling Expansion of MRI into Radiotherapy Guidance Project.

SOURCE ViewRay