MR-linac for arrhythmias
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Imaging and Treatment Planning for MR-Guided Cardiac Radioablation
IRAS ID
325604
Contact name
Timothy R Betts
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Arrhythmias cause distressing symptoms and sometimes sudden death. Treatment includes invasive procedures such as catheter ablation and sometime implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), that deliver shocks. Catheter ablation involves passing wires into blood vessels at the top of the leg and steering them into the heart to burn and destroy the abnormal muscle causing the arrhythmias. It uses general anaesthetic, has moderate success rates and significant complications.
Radiotherapy is a non-invasive treatment used to destroy cancer cells. It has been used in a handful of cases as an alternative to catheter ablation for arrhythmias in people not well enough to have ablation, targeting the radiotherapy beam to destroy the heart muscle causing the problem. Radiotherapy requires accurate visualisation of the target, an understanding of cardiac motion and localisation of adjacent organs.
The MRIdian radiotherapy system combines magnetic resonance (MR) imaging tracking movement (rather than conventional CT pictures) with a radiotherapy linear accelerator (linac) to provide real-time target tracking during treatment, improving success and reducing side effects. The GenesisCare MRIdian in Oxford is one of only 2 in the UK. It is not known whether MRIdian can produce cardiac scans of sufficient quality to allow safe and effective radiotherapy treatment for arrhythmias.
This study will take place in Oxford and recruit volunteers who are either healthy, or who are known to have heart disease. Some of the latter will have ICDs. It will compare MRIdian scans to standard cardiac MRI scans to assess whether the MRIdian scans are good enough to identify target areas for radiotherapy; assess whether MRIdian scans can track the movement of simulated radiotherapy targets; and examine whether ICDs interfere with the scan quality. It is purely an imaging study, with no treatments. It is sponsored by Oxford University Hospitals and funded by GenesisCare.REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/WM/0191
Date of REC Opinion
15 Sep 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion