Photo Courtesy of Westhauser Photography

Installation of the innovative MR-linac equipment completed this Saturday at the Froedtert and Medical College of Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center. Froedtert and MCW is just one of two institutions in the United States and one of seven worldwide to install this technology. 

Elekta’s MR-linac integrates, for the first time, an ultramodern radiotherapy system and a high-field MRI scanner with novel software. It enables a physician to capture diagnostic quality images of tumors and surrounding tissues during radiation therapy delivery. The MR-linac is designed to improve targeting of tumor tissue while reducing exposure of healthy tissue to radiation. It could allow physicians to precisely target a tumor during treatment, even when tumor tissue is moving during treatment or changes shape, location, size or composition between treatment sessions.

Construction of the space began in October 2015 where the team transformed an existing and vacant Linac vault on the third floor of the Cancer Center to become the new home of the MR-linac machine.  The MR-linac system install required careful coordination of a highly specialized team and industrial construction equipment to move and position cumbersome, delicate components. On Saturday, September 17, 2016, two components — a magnet, weighing about 5.75 tons, and a gantry, weighing about 10 tons — were lowered through an opening in the roof of the Clinical Cancer Center.

Read the media coverage of the installation from the Milwaukee Business Times here or visit Froedtert’s site to learn more.