ESTRO 2025 - Abstract Book

S2222

Interdisciplinary – Global health

ESTRO 2025

expanding this methodology to other cancer types and evaluating the impact of these guidelines on clinical outcomes and healthcare systems in resource-limited settings.

Keywords: prostate, guidelines

1415

Digital Poster Initial estimate of the carbon footprint of UK proton beam therapy services Robert Chuter 1,2 , Alastair Smith 3,4 , Victoria Newton-Sullivan 5 , Kamran Fathi 6,1 , Emma Waring 1 , Pooja Gohil 1 , Mark Hardy 3 1 Christie Medical Physics and Engineering, The Christie NHS FT, Manchester, United Kingdom. 2 Division of Cancer Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom. 3 Physics, The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, United Kingdom. 4 Radiotherapy physics, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Norwich, United Kingdom. 5 Proton Physics, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom. 6 Radiotherapy, Sultan Qaboos Comprehensive Cancer Care and Research Center, Muscat, Oman Purpose/Objective: The UK National Health Service (NHS) is aiming to be net zero by 2040. Work has been done to establish the carbon footprint of radiotherapy services such as EBRT. However, data for proton beam therapy is still in its infancy, with one US centre estimating the carbon footprint of its power usage [1] and patient and staff travel [2]. The aim of this study was to establish the carbon footprint of three UK proton beam therapy (PBT) services in order to: 1. Identify the largest contributing factors to guide the most effective carbon reduction 2. Provide a baseline to measure carbon reductions against 3. Identify similarities and differences between the centres, helping to identify opportunities for carbon reduction. Material/Methods: A process-based approach was carried out with data collected on each key carbon contributing element of the service. For construction the lifetime of the service was considered 100 years. Greenhouse gas conversion factors were then used to convert values established into carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) weights. Results: The CO 2 e of a low-energy PBT service was estimated as 343t annually, equating to an average of 1,138kg per patient. Two high-energy PBT services were estimated to be 2846 kg CO 2 e and 4067 kg CO 2 e per patient (see Figure 1). A study with a similar scope for EBRT gave an estimate of about 140 kg CO 2 e per patient [3].