Profile of European proton and carbon ion therapy centers assessed by the EORTC facility questionnaire

Publication date: Available online 29 July 2017
Source:Radiotherapy and Oncology
Author(s): Damien C. Weber, André Abrunhosa-Branquinho, Alessandra Bolsi, Andrzej Kacperek, Rémi Dendale, Dirk Geismar, Barbara Bachtiary, Annika Hall, Jens Heufelder, Klaus Herfarth, Jürgen Debus, Maurizio Amichetti, Mechthild Krause, Roberto Orecchia, Vladimir Vondracek, Juliette Thariat, Tomasz Kajdrowicz, Kristina Nilsson, Cai Grau
BackgroundWe performed a survey using the modified EORTC Facility questionnaire (pFQ) to evaluate the human, technical and organizational resources of particle centers in Europe.Material and methodsThe modified pFQ consisted of 235 questions distributed in 11 sections accessible on line on an EORTC server. Fifteen centers from 8 countries completed the pFQ between May 2015 and December 2015.ResultsThe average number of patients treated per year and per particle center was 221 (range, 40–557). The majority (66.7%) of centers had pencil beam or raster scanning capability. Four (27%) centers were dedicated to eye treatment only. An increase in the patients-health professional FTE ratio was observed for eye tumor only centers when compared to other centers. All centers treated routinely chordomas/chondrosarcomas, brain tumors and sarcomas but rarely breast cancer. The majority of centers treated pediatric cases with particles. Only a minority of the queried institutions treated non-static targets.ConclusionsAs the number of particle centers coming online will increase, the experience with this treatment modality will rise in Europe. Children can currently be treated in these facilities in a majority of cases. The majority of these centers provide state of the art particle beam therapy.



http://ift.tt/2uHWUYf