11.01.2024 – 11:53
ASG Superconductors
Genoa, Italy and Dresden, Germany (ots/PRNewswire)
ASG Superconductors’ (ASG) superconducting MgB2 technology – already used for energy and medical applications such as the world‘s only truly open MROpenEVO magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system – is at the heart of the world‘s first in the field of proton therapy and Cancer treatment using real-time MRI imaging.
MRI offers the advantage over conventional imaging procedures in that it can display tumors with unsurpassed soft tissue contrast. This makes it possible to better differentiate the tumor from the surrounding healthy tissue and to define the volume to be irradiated more precisely. In addition, MRI guidance is able to map changes in the shape and size of the volume to be irradiated that occur between successive treatment sessions, so that the radiation application can be individually and immediately adjusted. One of the key points of this scientific and technological breakthrough that will impact cancer treatment is real-time MRI, which makes it possible to visualize the movement of the tumor during a radiation session and to synchronize it with the radiation application.
With the prototype presented today in Germany at Oncoray – the National Center for Radiation Research in Oncology – it will in fact be possible for the first time in the world to study to what extent the accuracy of proton therapy using real-time MRI for the entire Body can be improved. The head of the “Experimental MR-integrated proton therapy” research group, Prof. Aswin Hoffmann, with whom the ASG engineers have been working on the development of the new system for years, said: “With this new prototype of the integrated whole-body MRI, it is possible to move Imaging tumors with high-contrast images in real time. The aim of our work is to develop a technique with which moving tumors can only be irradiated if they are in the right position to be hit by the proton beam. The MRI device , which can be rotated around the patient, offers the opportunity to use innovative ways of positioning the patient to treat them with protons in both a lying and upright position.”
The prototype, based on the ASG technology already used for the MROpenEVO system, the world‘s only MRI machine with a completely open design and cryogen-free MgB2 superconductor technology, is intended to demonstrate in scientific studies the added value of this new treatment modality for tumors in the breast -, abdominal and pelvic areas. The development and installation as well as the commissioning were made possible through close cooperation with international technology and industrial partners, such as ASG Superconductors, which is not only the manufacturer of the MRI device used as a basis, but also has historical know-how in development, Design and manufacture of superconducting MRI magnets from 0.5T up to Ultra High Field 11.7T, while MagnetTx Oncology Solutions, Edmonton/Canada, designed the rotating technology part.
Marco Nassi, Managing Director of ASG Superconductors, said: “It is a great challenge to contribute to such an innovative technical and scientific project in the field of proton therapy in close collaboration with highly respected hospitals, partners and universities. We are all the more proud that our technologies and expertise in the area of superconducting MgB2 material, magnets and MRI systems can make a significant contribution to making tumor treatment more effective in the near future.”
Further information about ASG Superconductors
www.asgsuperconductors.com
More information about MgB2 open MRI technology
www.mropenevo.com
Further information about the scientific project
https://www.oncoray.de/
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Press contact:
LUCA PEZZONI,
+393389414437,
[email protected]
Original content from: ASG Superconductors, transmitted by news aktuell