KWF proton research project for Holland PTC

News - 12 July 2018 - Communication TNW

<link en faculty-of-applied-sciences about-faculty departments radiation-science-technology reactor-physics-and-nuclear-materials people zoltan-perko _blank>Zoltán Perkó (Radiation, Science & Technology), together with Mischa Hoogeman (project leader, Erasmus MC) and Martijn Eenink (Holland Protonen Therapie Centrum) have been granted a KWF research project named PEARL (PrEcision of proton therapy increased by Advanced Robustness analysis).

The project focuses on Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT), which is a new type of radiotherapy, holding the promise of better preserving normal tissues surrounding tumors, thus offering a more effective treatment for cancer patients with higher cure rates and less side effects. However, IMPT’s advantage comes at the cost of increased sensitivities to uncertainties such as patient positioning or anatomical changes, and the lack of consistent methods to adequately handle these imprecisions in the day-to-day workflow prevents realizing the full potential of proton therapy. PEARL aims to overcome this issue and increase the precision of IMPT by providing physicians with the currently missing tools to optimally balance tumor control and dose conformity in the presence of treatment errors.