Heidelberg University Hospital Treats First Patient Using Carbon Ion Therapy With RayStation

August 23, 2019 — Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany, has started using the RayStation treatment planning system for carbon ion therapy treatments. The center is now using RayStation for both particle therapy and photon therapy.

In April 2018, RayStation was selected as the treatment planning system for Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center (HIT), which is the leading German facility for proton and carbon ion therapy and part of the Heidelberg University Hospital. An additional RayStation order for photon therapy was placed later that year, and RaySearch and Heidelberg University Hospital also entered into a long-term collaborative agreement regarding the clinical introduction of the RayCare oncology information system.

HIT has long expertise in advanced radiation therapy techniques and has been performing proton therapy and carbon ion therapy for the past 10 years. The center is now replacing its existing treatment planning system for protons and carbon ions and aims to use RayStation exclusively. Heidelberg University Hospital also treats patients using TomoTherapy, which is the focus of another cooperation between HIT and RaySearch. In addition, the center aims to begin treating patients using helium ion therapy by 2020. RayStation enables treatment planning for all of these modalities with a single software platform.

The HIT facility is an in-house medical product integrating a particle accelerator, a rotating ion gantry and an Iontris delivery system from Siemens Healthcare. The setup includes three treatment rooms, two horizontal treatment rooms,  and one gantry for both carbon ion and proton therapy. The gantry is the world’s first for carbon ion therapy. The facility has the capacity to treat up to 1,000 patients per year using particle therapy.

Jürgen Debus, professor and chairman, radiation oncology at Heidelberg University Hospital, said, “Carbon ion treatment planning in RayStation offers us unique options to optimize our treatment plans along with proton and photon precision radiotherapy.”

For more information: www.raysearchlabs.com