APSS Trento Advances Proton Therapy Capabilities with a Second Volumetric Image Guidance System

The first center in Italy to equip both of two full 360-degree proton therapy gantries with advanced volumetric image guidance systems.

The Proton Therapy Unit of Azienda Provinciale per i Servizi Sanitari (APSS) Trento has taken an important step forward in cancer treatment by becoming the first center in Italy to equip both of two full 360-degree proton therapy gantries with advanced volumetric image guidance systems.

APSS has a longstanding commitment to innovation in radiotherapy in general and proton therapy and was among the early adopters worldwide of a CT-on-rail system for online treatment plan recalculation. This system has recently been enhanced to also support on-line pre-treatment verification, further contributing to improved treatment precision.

As part of ongoing technological development, a Cone Beam CT system, fully funded by the Autonomous Province of Trento (PAT) has now been installed and clinically commissioned in the center’s second treatment room. With this addition, APSS Trento becomes the first public proton therapy center in Italy to offer volumetric image guidance on on two full gantry systems.

As the center had also begun the clinical delivery of proton arc therapy (brought to clinical maturity by APSS’s Medical Physics service, IBA and Raysearch Laboratories) in both rooms in October of 2024 — a technique considered the future of proton therapy, thanks to its potential to enhance dose conformity and overall treatment efficiency – with more than 30 patients treated since, it is now able to perform the most advanced proton therapy treatments available anywhere in the world.

These developments reflect APSS Trento’s longstanding and ongoing efforts to integrate advanced radiotherapy technologies into clinical practice both in APSS’s photon therapy radiotherapy unit with a more than 70 year long history and in the proton therapy unit with more than 10 years of clinical activity, with the goal of offering patients safe, precise, and effective cancer treatment options.

For more information, please contact:
protonterapia@apss.tn.it