STARLIT

Project results

STARLIT has improved Elekta Unity’s software to speed up imaging, thereby allowing a number of intervention and monitoring processes to be carried out in real time. The STARLIT system is integrated with low-latency connections, causing minimal delay in the processing of computer data, and a feedback loop, allowing for real-time adaption of treatment based on separate monitoring processes. These verify that the delivered dose and the position of the tumour are correct.

The project's main focus was technical feasibility, which resulted in several very successful outcomes. Thanks to these strong technical improvements, physicians can benefit from higher confidence and control of treatment delivery and potentially reduce margins while the patient, as a result of margin reductions, can potentially benefit from a risk reduction of side effects.

As reported in a press release by Elekta, in December 2022, a milestone was reached in radiation therapy as the first patients completed their full course of radiation therapy treatment with Elekta Unity using Comprehensive Motion Management (CMM) with True Tracking and automatic gating functionalities.

Based on initial results, there is great potential in using Unity's CMM functionality to treat abdominal cancers, lung tumours, prostate tumours – wherever there is motion, regardless of the cause.

Exploitation

The STARLIT partners show a real complementarity in their collaboration, in which the SMEs involved have a unique role as the creators of additional products that improve STARLIT's efficiency. For example, IT-V Medizintechnik from Austria created the Head & NeckSTEP M and the HeadSTEP MRL PushPIN, respectively the only head and neck positioning devices for iCAST and PushPIN masks officially certified for use with Elekta Unity.

Tesla Dynamic Coils (TDC) from the Netherlands developed a head-and-neck coil for the Elekta Unity system. The outcome was a radiolucent flexible coil that demonstrated a threefold increase in signal-to-noise ratio (the quality indicator of MR images) compared to the traditional coil in the Elekta Unity.

Modus QA from Canada contributed to quality assurance during project testing with the Quasar MRI⁴D Motion Phantom, which is the world's first MR-safe programmable motion phantom. The 4D motion phantom has a patented deformable tumour target, reduces measurement latency from over 50 ms to roughly 500 μs and improves target position precision from 1 mm to 0.25 mm.

Quantib from the Netherlands developed and improved upon its Visual Scoring Tool, which has played an important role in image quality assessment for Quantib’s current line of products, including those for brain and prostate MRI.

In addition, Philips had sold roughly 10,000 Compressed SENSE software licences by Q4 2022, which have been used in nearly 25 million examinations and Elekta has already received over 80 orders from more than 25 countries.

Promising uptake paves the way for STARLIT’s most important result: improved quality of life for patients, who currently go through the radiation procedure up to 20 times. Higher doses with greater accuracy could reduce this to two or three times – perhaps even just once. This means less travel to hospital and potentially fewer side effects.