The Physics of System Integration: Merging Radiotherapy and Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Improve Patient Outcomes

The integration of imaging into radiotherapy presents an opportunity to improve the precision and accuracy of radiation delivery to the therapy target. More precise delivery is expected, and has been shown in some cases, to reduce treatment times, radiation toxicity, and improve outcomes. However, to achieve these goals two systems that rely on very accurate electromagnetic fields must be integrated without compromising the performance of either system. In this talk the advantages of integrating low field MRI with radiotherapy will be briefly reviewed. The challenges involved with integrating an MRI system and a linear accelerator to effect superior image guided, and intensity modulated, radiotherapy will be covered in some detail with specific examples.