TRENTO PROTON THERAPY CENTRE TREATS 1000th PATIENT

The Centre reached the milestone this week by treating a 20-year-old woman affected by a rare head and neck adenoid cystic carcinoma. 

Operations were launched on October 22^nd, 2014, with the treatment of the first adult patient, followed by the first paediatric case treated with protons in Italy in May 2015. In 2019 children make up 25% of the patients cared for in Trento.

In 2019 children make up 25% of the patients cared for in Trento. Patients have come to the Dolomites to receive treatment from Italy and 18 countries in Europe, America Middle East and Asia, relying on Trentino’s hospitality.  

 “This is an important milestone in the fight against cancer and makes everyone of us very proud” commented Dr. Maurizio Amichetti, MD, Director of the Proton Therapy Centre, “as we were able to provide proton therapy to a large number of patients and improve our expertise to treat complex cases with innovative and sophisticated techniques”.

During these five years, patients have been treated for an array of difficult and rare cancers, including brain, head and neck, paediatric, skull base and spine, sarcomas, gastro intestinal, lymphoma and re-irradiation.

 In 2017, Trento became the second proton therapy centre in the world to develop radiosurgery by using proton beams to treat brain cancer. Clinical care is flanked by an intense research activity, with numerous publications on leading scientific journals.  

Proton beams are able to release the doses with extreme precision, saving the surrounding healthy tissue. The therapy requires particle production equipment - the cyclotron - and a beam transport and release system. During therapy, the patient is positioned on the treatment bed inside the gantry, the structure that directs the radiation by rotating 360° around the patient. The Centre is an operating unit of Trento Santa Chiara hospital and is part of the Department of Oncology.

The facility has two treatment rooms equipped with gantries for patient’s treatment and a third room, with a fixed proton beam, for experimental purpose, which is used to perform research activities and is operated by the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN).