Abstract
Trials have been performed on irradiating celiac plexus for pancreatic cancer pain management. Images from a combined magnetic resonance imaging and linear accelerator system (MR-linac) for ten patients were assessed for delineation of celiac ganglia, aiming for smaller target volumes and reducing treatment risks versus standard linac-based treatments. MRI-linacs showed superior soft tissue contrast, enabling increased dose to ganglia while irradiating smaller target volumes versus regular linacs (median: 0.8 cm(3) vs. 32.2 cm(3), p < 0.05 for ten pairs of plans). While further studies are needed, MR-linac treatments could improve targeting precision, minimize dose to organs-at-risk and enhance effectiveness in palliative care.