The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust will be the first in the UK to gain access to a state-of-the-art radiotherapy system after entering into a pioneering research collaboration with manufacturer Elekta
Professor Uwe Oelfke will lead the ICR's MR Linac project
They will develop the system, called the MR Linac, so radiation fields can be adapted to a patient’s anatomy during treatment for a large range of cancers that are challenging to image effectively and to target with radiation.
The MR Linac offers the potential to combine two advanced technologies: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which uses a powerful magnetic field to acquire images of the body’s internal anatomy, and a linear accelerator, which accelerates electrons to almost the speed of light before converting them to X-rays. Combined with onboard adaptive treating planning, this technology aims to ensure that each patient receives an optimal treatment – balancing the benefits of tumour control and the risks of side-effects.
The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), working with its clinical partner The Royal Marsden, has signed a contract with Elekta to become an academic partner in an international consortium of leading research organisations, including the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the National Cancer Institute in Amsterdam and the University of Utrecht in Holland.
The research collaboration aims to exploit the excellent soft-tissue contrast of MR images to dramatically improve the accuracy and effectiveness of high-precision radiotherapy. The development of the MR Linac is led by Elekta, a Swedish-based health technology company with manufacturing operations in Crawley, Sussex, UK, and Philips, a healthcare technology and consumer electronics company.
A team of physicists, computer scientists and clinical consultants at the ICR and The Royal Marsden will support Elekta in developing the technology through a rigorous preclinical research programme – before clinicians at the ICR and The Royal Marsden make the MR Linac available as a treatment option for cancer patients.
Elekta engineers developed the first prototype of the technology with the University of Utrecht. The ICR is the first UK academic institution to partner with Elekta, and only the sixth in the world.
The ICR and The Royal Marsden will now aim to secure additional investment in their research on the MR Linac, to expand the scope of the research effort and develop the technology as quickly as possible for cancer patients.
The research will help ensure treatment can be delivered accurately even in the presence of the strong magnetic fields required for MRI – a major challenge because the two technologies are usually incompatible.
Professor Uwe Oelfke, Head of the Joint Department of Physics at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Radiotherapy is a hugely important and highly effective element of cancer treatment, but we need to develop new and smarter ways to direct X-rays at tumours and further reduce the side-effects associated with collateral damage to healthy tissue.
“I’m very excited to be part of the first research collaboration in the UK to gain access to Elekta’s state-of-the-art MR Linac system. Our research teams will use the MR Linac facility to develop real-time magnetic resonance imaging to shape radiation beams to where the tumour is, even as it moves within the body. This new technology has the potential to improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy, by targeting high doses of radiation to exactly where they are needed, and to have significant benefits for cancer patients. In the future we foresee that MRI-guided radiation therapy will lead to an even more personalised treatment by exploiting functional and biological information provided by MRI images.”
Professor Christopher Nutting, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Joint Head of the Division of Imaging and Radiotherapy at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: “We are delighted to join this pioneering research partnership to develop the MR Linac, which represents the very latest in radiotherapy technology. It’s hugely exciting to be at the forefront of research into new approaches to radiotherapy, with the potential to directly benefit patients at our hospital and across the NHS.”
Kevin Brown, Global Vice President, Scientific Research at Elekta, said: “We are very excited to have the team of clinicians and scientists from the ICR and The Royal Marsden to join this collaborative effort to maximise the value to patients of this new technology. We will need to overcome many challenges and their expertise will be invaluable.”
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Notes to editors
- The ICR is the sixth member to join the research consortium that assesses the novel technology, which brings together state-of-the-art radiation therapy and MRI in a single system. The consortium also includes the University Medical Center Utrecht (Utrecht, the Netherlands), The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, Texas), The Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Toronto, Ontario) and The Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin Cancer Center (Milwaukee, Wisconsin).
The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is one of the world’s most influential cancer research institutes.
Scientists and clinicians at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) are working every day to make a real impact on cancer patients’ lives. Through its unique partnership with The Royal Marsden Hospital and ‘bench-to-bedside’ approach, the ICR is able to create and deliver results in a way that other institutions cannot. Together the two organisations are rated in the top four cancer centres globally.
The ICR has an outstanding record of achievement dating back more than 100 years. It provided the first convincing evidence that DNA damage is the basic cause of cancer, laying the foundation for the now universally accepted idea that cancer is a genetic disease. Today it leads the world at isolating cancer-related genes and discovering new targeted drugs for personalised cancer treatment.
As a college of the University of London, the ICR provides postgraduate higher education of international distinction. It has charitable status and relies on support from partner organisations, charities and the general public.
The ICR’s mission is to make the discoveries that defeat cancer. For more information visit www.icr.ac.uk
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
The Royal Marsden opened its doors in 1851 as the world’s first hospital dedicated to cancer diagnosis, treatment, research and education.
Today, together with its academic partner, The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), it is the largest and most comprehensive cancer centre in Europe treating over 50,000 NHS and private patients every year. It is a centre of excellence with an international reputation for groundbreaking research and pioneering the very latest in cancer treatments and technologies.
The Royal Marsden, with the ICR, is the only National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre for Cancer. First awarded the status in 2006, it was re-awarded in 2011. A total of £62 million is being provided over five years, to support pioneering research work, and is being shared out over eight different cancer themes.
Since 2004, the hospital’s charity, The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, has helped raise over £100 million to build theatres, diagnostic centres, and drug development units.
Prince William became President of The Royal Marsden in 2007, following a long royal connection with the hospital.
For more information, visit www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk
- Visit our MR Linac page for more information relating to this project