Proton Radiotherapy in Krakow, Poland – where nuclear physics and medicine meet

Prof. Michael P.R. Waligórski – Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences & Centre of Oncology – Krakow, Poland.

At the dept. of Medical Physics, treatment planning conf. room, 2nd floor, Nørrebrogade 44, Building 5.

A National Consortium has been formed in Poland, aimed at establishing a proton radiotherapy facility at the Institute of Nuclear Physics (INP) in Krakow and later, a carbon and proton facility in Warsaw. Presently, using a 60 MeV horizontal proton beam from the INP’s AIC-144 cyclotron, ocular patients are regularly treated under NHS contract, while a new 230 MeV proton cyclotron (IBA Proteus C 235) has recently been installed and commissioned for use in nuclear physics research. To treat all sites in cancer patients, the medical facility at INP will apply the variable energy of this cyclotron (70-230 MeV) in scanning-mode nozzles placed in two rotating gantries. Dedicated horizontal beams will be used for treating ocular patients and for radiobiology and radiation physics research. The first patients will be treated there in 2015. While the INP is primarily a major nuclear physics research centre, close collaboration with medical centres (and the Krakow Centre of Oncology in particular) offers unique clinical and research opportunities in cancer radiotherapy, together with strong research support in nuclear, radiation and accelerator physics.