Elekta AB and Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV announced that The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has signed an agreement to join a research group to advance the development of an innovative image-guided treatment technology for cancer care. The technology merges radiation therapy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology in a single system. MD Anderson is the second member of the research consortium, which will comprise radiation oncology centers and clinicians, and already includes the University Medical Center Utrecht (the Netherlands).

Uniting MRI with a cutting edge radiation therapy system -- thus creating an MRI-guided radiation therapy system -- will provide physicians with exceptional images of a patient's soft tissues and tumor during radiation therapy. This breakthrough innovation also aims to enable clinicians to adapt treatment delivery in real time for the most precise cancer treatments possible. Prior to the establishment of the research consortium, Elekta, Philips and the University Medical Center Utrecht have built and tested a prototype system that integrates a linear accelerator and a 1.5 Tesla MRI system.

The success of these efforts has enabled the project to move to the next phase of development and testing by the select group of consortium partners.