Newsletter of the Center for Proton Therapy :: Paul Scherrer Institut :: March 2023 :: # 27 :: page 1
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Center for Proton Therapy :: Paul Scherrer Institut :: # 28_03/2023
Dear Reader,
of the ETH. The book backbone is a vivid scientific story of scien- and precision (ADAP/ MRI and PET guidance and tumor tracking) tific projects that ultimately led to the cure of thousands of cancer and ultimately outcome improvement.
Welcome to this first 2023 edition of our SpotON+ Newsletter. The
patients in Switzerland. I hope the read, for those interested in Finally, a summary of the analysis of spot reduction during the
exciting news is the announcement of the publication of the book complicated projects, will be as interesting as the challenges to
planning process is detailed on page 3. In essence, spot-reduced
‘Physics against Cancer’ detailed on page 4. This was a remarka- put these individual sub-stories together.
plans are more sensitive to small positioning inaccuracies of the
ble endeavor of key contributors that, at some time point, made
The rest of the newsletter is dedicated to the quality of life (QoL)
pencil beams but the resulting shorter delivery times may allow
the whole development of the utilization of radiation, be it with of Ewing sarcoma patients treated with protons. These analyses for more rescanning and thus a more effective radiation delivery. pions or protons, for cancer patients on PSI’s campus a success- are key if one believes on the optimization of the therapeutic Bertschi et al. have observed that spot (and energy-layer) reduced ful one. It is full of anecdotes (such as PSI was the probably first ratio with proton therapy, which is particularly important for
plans were a valuable option to increase the efficiency of 3D
institution to provide a psycho-oncologist in the early 1980s) and children, adolescents and young adults who present unfortunately, volumetric rescanning for motion mitigation. Although this parahas ancillary photographs that have never been published else-
in a substantial proportion of these, with long-term treatment digm is not routinely applied to patients, it is definitively a plan-
where. CPT’s team thought that the capture and narration of these
related adverse events. Interestingly, these patients tended to
extraordinary years was of paramount importance to illustrate
rate their QoL substantially higher than did their parents/care
ning strategy that is worth pursing in the not too distant future.
what a couple of physicists, engineers and physicians, with limited givers. There is however no room for complacency, as in the lon-
That being said, I hope that this newsletter was of interest to you
financial means, could do together. These passionate years, when
and I stay tuned for the next edition in 4 months’ time
gitudinal analysis (at 2 years), children and AYAs rated their
sometimes emotions flew high, have led to our current proton Emotional functioning and Body image score poorly highlighting therapy program, delivering spot scanning or pencil beam scan- that outcome-improvement is needed even with very conformal ning, which has treated over 10’000 cancer patients. In ‘Physics radiation delivery. This is in essence why our current clinical re-
Sincerely, Prof. Damien C. Weber,
against Cancer’, the contributors add depth, texture and facts to
search program focusses on treatment efficiency (UHDR, planning
Chairman Center for Proton Therapy,
the incredible endeavor of treating patients within the structure
automation, spot reduction [see under]), improvement of accuracy
Paul Scherrer Institute