Elekta, a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders, has received the US Food & Drug Administration 510(k) clearance for its  Monaco 5 treatment planning system.

“Monaco 5 consolidates the best of Elekta’s treatment planning solutions into one system, increasing confidence and clinical versatility for the radiation oncology team,” says Todd Powell, executive vice president of Elekta Software. “Its new system architecture allows advanced treatment plans to be created faster than ever.”

Monaco now supports the full spectrum of radiotherapy techniques, including VMAT, IMRT and 3D conformal radiation therapy. The system is especially well equipped for sophisticated stereotactic therapies, such as SRS and SRT, with added planning support for specialized beam shaping solutions, including circular cones. As in all Monaco releases, the new version employs the Monte Carlo dose engine, considered the gold standard for calculating radiation dose.

Clinicians at Union Hospital’s HUX Cancer Center (Terre Haute, Indiana) have been evaluating the non-clinical alpha version of Monaco 5 for several months.

“Monaco 5 gives us a single point where all of our planning can be completed, regardless of whether we prepare stereotactic, electron, IMRT, VMAT or 3D plans. From a workflow standpoint it’s a huge improvement,” says Michele Verst, MS, HUX’s chief medical physicist. “In addition, the Monaco 5 user interface is more intuitive than previous versions – everything is nicely organized. For example, if you want to do contouring, you click on the contour tab and all your tools are right there. The icons are a nice size and clearly visible. From usability, workflow and data management perspectives, Monaco 5 gives us tremendous benefits.”

Elekta develops sophisticated, state-of-the-art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy, radiosurgery and brachytherapy, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care.