46 | FEBRUARY 23 • 2023 

I

n 2017, Henry Ford Health 
became the first-in-the-
world to implement a 
ViewRay MRIdian Linac — an 
MRI-guided radiation system 
that transforms the way radi-
ation oncologists treat their 
patients. It became the first 
health system to procure a sec-
ond machine in 2021 and has 
become an international leader 
in the field of MRI-guided 
radiation. 
About five years since it 
received its first machine, 
“we have treated hundreds of 
patients with this very focused 
MRI-guided radiation,” said 
Dr. Benjamin Movsas, chair of 
radiation oncology and med-
ical director of Henry Ford 
Health-Cancer (HFH-C) and a 
member of Shomrey Emunah 
in Southfield. “We’ve been 
able to do this across so many 
different areas, whether it be 
pancreas cancer, liver cancer, 
lung, prostate or brain tumors 
— almost from head to toe.”
As the experts on this tech-
nology that is transforming the 
way cancer is treated, HFH-C 
has trained more than 400 
doctors across the globe in this 
approach, including for ste-
reotactic (focused) radiation. 
Recently, three different groups 
of doctors from Israel decided 
independently they wanted to 
come to Henry Ford Hospital 
to learn about this technology.
“Henry Ford Hospital has 
had an ongoing relationship 
with Israel for many years,” 
Movsas said. “Often we’re 
the ones going there. So it’s 
wonderful to see doctors from 
Israel coming here.”

Last month, doctors from 
the Shaare Zedek Cancer 
Center in Jerusalem, the 
Sharett Institute of Oncology 
at the Hadassah University 
Hospital in Jerusalem and the 
Sheba Medical Center in Tel 

Aviv came to learn more about 
the technology and how it 
could help their patients and 
see it in action.

Currently, Israel is home to 
only one ViewRay MRIdian 
Linac MRI-guided radiation 
system, and these doctors from 
Israel were evaluating the pos-
sibility of bringing this novel 
technology to their own medi-
cal centers.
“
As a radiation oncologist 
in the field now for about 25 
years, so much has advanced 
in our field,” Movsas said. “But 
to host specialists from Israel 
who are used to very advanced 
technologies — and to literally 
see their jaws drop when they 
witnessed what this special 
radiation unit can do is very 
special. They definitely were 
very impressed.”

WHAT IS ADAPTIVE 
RADIATION? 
To understand the impact 
of this technology, first it’s 
important to understand 
the way traditional radia-
tion oncology usually works. 
Doctors typically take a CAT 
scan of the patient — basically 
a snapshot — and map out a 
treatment of radiation. The 
challenge is that internal organs 
can move in the time between 
when the snapshot was taken 
and when the patient receives 
radiation, as well as during the 
radiation treatment itself.
With adaptive radiation, the 
MRI stays on the whole time 
during treatment so the radi-
ation oncologist can literally 
see in real-time how the target 
and nearby organs are moving. 
Because of that, doctors are 

able to use smaller margins to 
minimize the risk of irradiating 
nearby healthy tissues.
“I recently treated a patient 
with only a 2-3-millimeter 
margin — about one 10th of 
an inch,” Movsas said. “
As soon 
as the target, which was in this 
patient’s lung, moved as the 
patient breathed, the machine 
automatically paused the radi-
ation beam on its own and 
waited for the target to move 
back in position. Therefore, the 
target received the full dose of 
radiation, and no normal lung 
tissue was unnecessarily irra-
diated.”
That alone would be enough 
to make an MRI-guided unit 
really attractive, Movsas added, 
but what’s more, doctors are 
able to adapt or adjust their 
plans in real time. “What this 

Sharing Knowledge

HEALTH

Experts in MRI-guided radiation oncology at 
Henry Ford Health host delegations from Israel.

JACKIE HEADAPOHL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Dr. Ben Movsas, 
left, with Dr. Aron 
Popovtser, head of 
the Sharett Institute 
of Oncology at 
the Hadassah 
University Hospital 
in Jerusalem. 

COURTESY OF HENRY FORD

