ESTRO 2025 - Abstract Book

S2196

Interdisciplinary – Education in radiation oncology

ESTRO 2025

3675

Digital Poster Promoting collaboration between proton therapy centers: fostering learning curve and networking Luca Bergamaschi 1 , Federica Cattani 2 , Floriana Pansini 2 , Stefania Comi 2 , Marco Liotta 2 , Roberta Lazzari 1 , Marta Cremades 3 , Stephanie Bolle 3 , Alejandro Mazal 3 , Juan Antonio Vera 3 , Juan Maria Perez 3 , Massimo Sarra Fiore 1 , Jennifer Bona Rivas 1 , Martina Persiani 1 , Enrica Borghetti 1 , Fabiana Castelluccia 1 , Mar Cobos Ramirez 3 , Karl Amin 1 , Federico Gagliardi 1 , Roberto Orecchia 4 , Barbara Alicja Jereczek-Fossa 1,5 , Daniela Alterio 1 1 Division of Radiation Oncology, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy. 2 Unit of Medical Physics, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy. 3 Centro De Protonterapia, Quironsalud, Madrid, Spain. 4 Direzione Scientifica, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy. 5 Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy Purpose/Objective: Proton therapy (PT) is gaining an increasingly crucial role for the treatment of several oncological diseases. However, peculiarities of this technique make the learning and starting work phase challenging for a new PT center (PTC). The present work aims to report an example of how the collaboration between two European PTCs fosters the learning curve and promote networking. Material/Methods: A collaboration agreement has been defined between a new opening PTC and an experienced. The project had three main goals: 1) to promote observership periods of different professional figures (Medical Doctors - MDs, Medical Physicists - MPs, and Radiation Therapy Technicians- RTTs) between the two PTCs for educational purposes; 2) to share the clinical indications and PT treatment plans to support the learning curve during the start up phase; 3) to foster networking between the two PTCs. been organized as follows: 1 resident, 3 senior MDs, 4 MPs and 4 RTTs from the new opening PTC to the experienced one. Similarly, 2 MPs and 1 RTT from the experienced PTC attended the new opening PTC for local support and training. In particular 2 expert MPs supervised the acceptance phase and commissioning of the PT machine before the beginning of clinical activity. For the second goal, online meetings have been scheduled twice a week since clinical activity began (November 2023). Thirty clinical cases, half of which reirradiations, have been discussed, with a focus on dose-volume constraints. Fifteen treatment plans have been revised with recommended changes regarding the entrance of the PT fields, optimization parameters and robustness evaluation. For the third goal internal guidelines for the clinical practice and study protocols have been presented by both PTCs. Results: The collaboration lasted a year (from May 2023 to May 2024). For the first goal, different observership periods have

Conclusion: The present work reports an example of how the collaboration between PTCs fosters either learning curve and networking in this scenario. This approach could be used as a successful strategy by the future opening PTCs.

Keywords: protontherapy, collaboration, networking