Proton therapy is an innovative type of radiotherapy which treats tumours with extreme precision, ensuring that the surrounding healthy tissue is spared as much as possible. In addition to treating patients with this innovative radiation technique, the proton centre focuses on research into the further development of proton therapy and offers training opportunities.
Since the start in 2020 approximately 70 patients receive proton therapy each year. Usually it concerns children: 60 per cent are minors. Because treatment in children under the age of six is performed under anaesthesia, it is particularly intensive and requires a well-coordinated, multidisciplinary approach. This involves, among others, radiation oncologists, paediatricians, anaesthetists, medical physicists, psychologists and other healthcare providers.
Interuniversity partnership
The anniversary event offers a strong programme with speakers from home and abroad, including dr. Liesbet Van Eycken (general director of Stichting Belgisch Kankerregister), who will give an overview of the Belgian proton therapy data of the past years. She will explain how many patients were treated in Belgium and what outcomes were recorded for them. Ze licht daarbij toe hoeveel patiënten in België behandeld werden en welke uitkomsten bij hen geregistreerd zijn. The meeting will conclude with a panel discussion moderated by journalist Wim De Vilder.
We want to further develop that expertise and, in time, expand it to more patients, always with the best possible care for each patient in mind.
Prof. dr. Sandra Nuyts
Prof. dr. Sandra Nuyts, medical head of department of radiotherapy-oncology at UZ Leuven: “We are proud to celebrate the fifth anniversary of our proton centre – a unique achievement within the Belgian healthcare system. What makes PARTICLE so special, is the strong internal and external collaboration. That multidisciplinary collaboration, based on an interuniversity partnership, makes us the only centre in Belgium that offers proton therapy with this expertise. The past five years were marked by innovation, patient-oriented care and scientific foundation. We want to further develop that expertise and, in time, expand it to more patients, always with the best possible care for each patient in mind.”
PARTICLE stands for ‘Particle Therapy Interuniversity Center Leuven’ and is an interuniversitary project of UZ Leuven, KU Leuven, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc and UCLouvain, partly supported by UZ Gent, CHU-UCL-Namur, UZ Brussel and UZA. The proton centre, located on the Gasthuisberg campus in Leuven, is the only proton therapy centre in Belgium.