ESTRO Annual Report 2018

EPTN European Particle Therapy Network

EPTN a task force of ESTRO aim is to promote clinical and research collaboration between the rapidly increasing numbers of European particle therapy (PT) centres and to ensure that PT becomes integrated in the overall radiation oncology community. The network held its annual meeting on 28 June 2018 at University College London (UCL), UK. There were 38 participants from 19 institutions in ten European countries. These numbers reflect the steady increase in the number of new particle therapy facilities operating in Europe, with at least three new centres coming into operation in 2018. The year culminated in eight scientific articles on EPTN work being published in Radiotherapy & Oncology Vol 128, July 2018 (Special issue on Proton Therapy) [1-8]. Achievements of work parties (WPs) in 2018 WP1: Clinical trials The WP focused on establishing the content of prospective data registries and assessing methodological strategies for performing clinical research at a European level. To this end a consensus meeting was held on 5 September in Amsterdam to reach consensus on the content of prospective data registries on six tumour-specific databases: central nervous system (CNS), head and neck, lung, oesophagus, breast and prostate. This project, known as ParticleCARE, falls under the umbrella venture conducted by ESTRO and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) (E2-RADIaTE). The background and general aims of ParticleCARE have been published [5] .

WP2: Dose assessment, quality assurance, dummy runs, technology inventory As of June 2018, 27 participants from 21 centres based in ten countries in Europe had contributed to the activities of this WP. WP2 held a workshop on 8May 2018 in Frankfurt, Germany. It focused on the activities of three of the six working groups: (i) the QA / equipment survey, (ii) reference dosimetry, and (iii) audits. • QA / equipment survey: The survey completed at the end of 2017 had an 88% return rate. Its main goal was to verify if a consensus exists among the centres in Europe with respect to QA programmes. Preliminary results were presented at ESTRO 37 in 2018 and seemed to indicate that there is no consensus. WP2 would work to harmonise the QA programme for particle therapy. • Reference dosimetry: The WP is working on three projects: Dose-area product (DAP) dosimetry; SOBP-based dosimetry validation; andAbsolute dosimetry with a portable graphite calorimeter. • Audits: Creating a network of participating centres interested in dosimetry audits and end-to-end intercomparison tests. TheWP conducted a survey of particle centres in Europe designed to map the needs for a particle therapy education and training programme. 18 centers responded. Results showed that all centres send their staff for training at experienced centres prior to the start of operation, but the percentage of staff members and the duration of their stay varied considerably. Notable is that new centres are willing to send their staff on application training provided by vendors, ESTRO or the PSI WP3: Education

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