ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S84

Invited Speaker

ESTRO 2024

Proton therapy innovations

Jenneke Jacobs

Holland Proton Therapy Center, Radiotherapy, Delft, Netherlands

Abstract:

Since 2018, proton therapy has been clinically available in the Netherlands of which Holland Proton Therapy Center (HollandPTC) is one of the three Dutch centers. The setup and initial growth of a new proton therapy center poses challenges encompassing among others staffing, workflow development, and training and education. In addition, it is important to continuously improve and optimize the logistics and the quality of the treatments. Here we present from a RTT perspective how these challenges were addressed. One of the innovations we have introduced, and continue to develop, is the ability to automate treatment planning. In the Netherlands, patients are selected based on comparative treatment planning using NTCP evaluation. This workflow introduces an additional step in our workflow. To limit extra time and personnel needed for this step, an automated workflow has been implemented clinically to perform the treatment plan comparison for breast cancer patients. Another challenge concerns gantry capacity. HollandPTC has a license to treat up to 600 patients per year, but with the time slots introduced at the beginning, this would not be possible. We therefore initiated a project to identify areas for time optimization, which resulted in increased capacity on the gantries. The implementation of adaptive treatment strategies at HollandPTC is another innovation we are actively pursuing. However, adaptive strategies require extra capacity in both treatment planning and on the gantry. Automating processes is paramount to make adaptive proton therapy feasible. Finally, lack of education for RTTs working in proton therapy will be discussed. To address this gap, a project was initiated at HollandPTC to develop education and training, particularly for treatment planning. The next challenge lies in expanding this education to the European level. HollandPTC is involved in a European Erasmus+ project (TaSeRnet) aiming at improving practical education in proton therapy by fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing between proton therapy centers and RTTs.

3467

PSQA QA (offline and online)

Michaël Claessens

Iridium, Radiation Oncology, Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract:

The ultimate goal of radiotherapy (RT) is a deliverable plan that is most preferably robust against different uncertainties during treatment delivery. Standard workflows are characterized by manual tasks, which are labor intensive and time-consuming. Since several years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been proposed as a tool to increase quality, standardization and acceleration of multiple steps leading to a more safe and accurate radiation