West German Proton Therapy Center Essen

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The West German Proton Therapy Center Essen (WPE) in Essen is a clinical facility of the Essen University Hospital , where people with tumors in the head, in the spine or in the pelvic area are treated with the help of proton therapy. The patient operation has been running since 2013. The center has the legal form of a non-profit GmbH (gGmbH).

Emergence

Construction of the center began in 2006 and the topping-out ceremony was held in 2008. In 2009 the proton therapy center was a prize winner in the nationwide competition Germany - Land of Ideas . The first patients were to be treated in 2009, but due to faulty technology and poor design of the building, clinical applications did not start until May 2013 with the commissioning of the first treatment room. Since then (as of December 2017) around 1,000 patients have been treated.

In April 2014 - parallel to the complete takeover of the WPE by the Essen University Hospital - the second of a total of four treatment rooms went into operation. Here tumors can be fought with Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS) technology. The third room followed in March 2015. At the beginning of 2016, the expansion of the center was completed with the opening of the fourth room. In the future, doctors want to treat up to 1,000 patients per year there.

Treatable diseases

At the moment, tumors in the head, spine and pelvic area that have not been pre-irradiated are treated at the WPE (i.e. primarily primary brain tumors and sarcomas of the base of the skull, facial skull, spine and pelvis). Even prostate cancer and advanced ENT tumors such. B. Nasopharyngeal carcinomas (tumors in the nasopharynx) and carcinomas of the paranasal sinuses are taken into account. One focus is the treatment of childhood tumors. Children under 5 years of age can also be treated routinely in light sedation at the WPE. The children sleep during the treatment, then wake up by themselves and can go home again. The WPE is now the largest radiation therapy center in Europe in the field of childhood cancer. By August 2019, over 1000 children had been treated, around half of them under sedation.

Thanks to the pencil beam scanning method (PBS) and the state-of-the-art therapy planning system, intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) is routinely used for ENT tumors (including lymph node irradiation), skull base tumors and prostate tumors. The entire craniospinal axis (CSA, including the brain and spinal canal ) can also be routinely irradiated using PBS and IMPT for tumors of the central nervous system (CNS) . The availability of the IMPT also enables a Simultaneous Integrated Boost (SIB) - i.e. simultaneous boost irradiation - for tumors of the skull base, in the ENT area and the prostate.

Movable tumors are now also treated at the WPE. Proton therapy can help under certain conditions, especially with liver tumors such as hepatocellular carcinoma .

Furnishing

The WPE has four treatment rooms. The beam guidance can be rotated 360 degrees in three rooms (gantry) so that, together with the rotatable table, a favorable direction of radiation is achieved. The fourth treatment room is equipped with a horizontal beam line (fixed beam line) and an eye therapy area. For therapy planning and follow-up investigations, the WPE u. a. via ultrasound , computer and magnetic resonance tomography (CT and MRT). If necessary, proton therapy and therapy preparation can be carried out under anesthesia. The proton source is a cyclotron from Ion Beam Applications SA (IBA) with a constant energy of 230 MeV.

Cooperations

As a "Clinic for Particle Therapy", the WPE is part of the University Hospital Essen and the West German Tumor Center Essen . Specialists from the WPE u. a. take part in the various interdisciplinary tumor boards that meet regularly.

Employee

An international team of over 100 experts works at the WPE, consisting of doctors (including specialists in radiation therapy and specialist knowledge of particle therapy), physicists, physics assistants and precision mechanics, medical, technical and radiological assistants, study assistants, as well as case management and ambulance staff. The medical director is Beate Timmermann.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Homepage of the WPE
  2. ↑ Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) of April 29, 2014: Proton Center finally starts
  3. ↑ Tumors under fire ( Memento of the original from July 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.land-der-ideen.de archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Winner of "Germany - Land of Ideas"
  4. ↑ Kurt-Martin Mayer: The naked cannon . In Focus of May 27, 2013, accessed on July 16, 2014
  5. ^ West German Proton Therapy Center Essen | Fourth treatment room opened - Essen facility is now the largest proton therapy center at a university hospital in Germany. In: www.wpe-uk.de. Retrieved October 26, 2016 .
  6. ↑ 1000th patient treated - proton therapy | WPE-UK.de . In: West German Proton Therapy Center Essen (WPE) . December 11, 2017 ( wpe-uk.de [accessed December 13, 2017]).
  7. ↑ Press release: Essen University Hospital takes over West German proton therapy center completely.
  8. ↑ a b West German Proton Therapy Center Essen | Fourth treatment room opened - Essen facility is now the largest proton therapy center at a university hospital in Germany. In: www.wpe-uk.de. Retrieved October 24, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) of March 29, 2015: Operation in the proton therapy center is picking up speed
  10. ↑ Homepage of the WPE WPE: Indications ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wpe-uk.de
  11. ^ West German Proton Therapy Center Essen | Indications. (No longer available online.) In: www.wpe-uk.de. Archived from the original on October 24, 2016 ; accessed on October 24, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wpe-uk.de
  12. ↑ 1000th patient treated - proton therapy | WPE-UK.de . In: West German Proton Therapy Center Essen (WPE) . December 11, 2017 ( wpe-uk.de [accessed December 13, 2017]).
  13. ↑ A unique expertise: The children's oncological radiation therapy program at the WPE is the largest of its kind in Germany - 1000th child treated. In: West German Proton Therapy Center Essen (WPE). September 23, 2019, accessed on October 16, 2019 (German).
  14. ↑ Proton Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma | News WPE-UK.de. In: West German Proton Therapy Center Essen (WPE). May 28, 2019, accessed on October 16, 2019 (German).
  15. ↑ Homepage of the WPE equipment ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.uk-essen.de
  16. ↑ Clinic for Particle Therapy
  17. ↑ Clinic for Particle Therapy

Coordinates: 51 ° 26 ′ 6.3 "  N , 6 ° 59 ′ 14.5"  E