Uppsala, Sweden, October 15, 2015 – IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A., EURONEXT) announces that the newly opened Skandion clinic (Skandionkliniken), Uppsala, Sweden, treated its first cancer patients using a recently installed proton therapy system. Most of the patients treated so far have been irradiated for slowgrowing brain tumors.
The clinic is first in the Nordics to offer proton therapy and is currently among the few such facilities worldwide with this cancer treatment modality. The clinic opted for a two-room Proteus® PLUS proton therapy system, each suite equipped with a 360° gantry and a pencil beam scanning (PBS) dedicated nozzle. A third 360° gantry room is maintained for future use and a research room with fixed PBS nozzle completes the setup.
Prior to initiating treatments, Skandion clinicians received a comprehensive clinical education program at Penn Medicine. Penn Medicine’s rich clinical experience in proton therapy significantly prepared the Skandion clinical team’s implementation of proton therapy in Sweden, accelerating the commissioning.
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Only one of the rooms is currently used treating nine patients per day, most of which have brain tumors. Expectations are the second room, which features an additional cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) installation, will receive patients before the end of October this year. When both 360° gantry rooms are fully operational, Skandion’s treatment capacity will be around 15,000 fractions a year. Skandion patients enjoy the fastest irradiation time worldwide, while energy consumption is limited to the lowest possible level.
The Skandion project is a unique public health joint venture of all seven Swedish County Councils that have university hospitals: Uppsala, Östergötland, Skåne, Stockholm, Västerbotten, Västra Götaland and Örebro. The clinic itself is built adjacent to the University Hospital of Uppsala. Diagnostics and initial treatment planning are done by clinicians from seven different university hospitals: Göteborg, Linköping, Skåne, Örebro, Stockholm, Umeå and Uppsala. Patients are then referred to the Skandionkliniken for the actual treatment procedure. An 86-room hotel is included in the building to accommodate travelling patients.
Dr. Håkan Nyström, Chief Physicist at Skandionkliniken, commented: “We are delighted to have reached our goal of making proton therapy available to Swedish cancer patients, offering them the well-known benefits of radiation therapy while reducing the risk of harmful side effects inherent to conventional radiation modalities. In other words, improving their chances to successfully conquer cancer.”
