PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: The clinical implementation of MR-guided radiotherapy on MR-linacs (MRL) hasrapidly increased in recent years. The advantages represented by the MR-based daily online plan adaptation and real-time monitoring have been exploited for different tumor sites. Nevertheless, some concerns remain, mainly related to the longer treatment time and limited patient eligibility. We report here the experience of our center, where a 1.5T MRL was clinically implemented in 2019 and, since then, more than 1200 patients have been treated.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The first 1000 patients treated at the MRL in our department were selected. Technical information such as treatment time and adaptive technic have been prospectively recorded, while toxicity data were retrospectively collected.

RESULTS

Between October 2019 and June 2024, 1000 patients for a total of 1061 treatment courses were included. Prostate and prostate bed were irradiated in 57.1% and 10.2% of the cases, respectively, including regional pelvic lymphnodes in 4.7%. Other frequent treated sites were lymph node metastases, pancreas and liver. The most frequent prescribed doses were 36.25 Gy (31%), 35 Gy (28.3%) and 30 Gy (9.4%) in five fractions. On a total of 9076 administered fractions, 80.8% were performed with adapt-to-shape and 19.2% with adapt-to-position method. The mean in-room time was 38 min (range, 18-103), with 74.4% of patients completing the session within 40 min. Acute grade (G) 3 toxicity was recorded in 1.6% of the cases, while, on a total of 858 patients available for late toxicity, G3 was recorded in 0.3% of the cases, with no >G3.

CONCLUSIONS

Our real-world experience of an early-adopter center confirms that MRL treatments are feasible for different tumor entities in several anatomical sites. We showed that most of the patients could be treated within 40 min and showed low toxicity rates. Protocols for dose escalation and margin reduction, by adopting new comprehensive motion monitoring strategies, are under development.