BRONOWICE CYCLOTRON CENTER, FROM SCIENCE TO TREATMENT

Bronowice Cyclotron Center in Krakow, Poland, which is part of the INSTYTUT FIZYKI JĄDROWEJ im. Henryka Niewodniczańskiego Polskiej Akademi Nauk has entered a new stage in its relationship with IBA. This multi-phase project started out in 2010, funded by both European (85%), and local (15%) budget. To this purpose, IBA installed a Proteus 235 cyclotron on the premises in April 2012, delivering - in December 2012 - a dual line to a research area and to an eye line treatment room. Since then, the Bronowice Cyclotron Center has decided to extend its activities to patient treatment, mainly pediatric cases. . IBA was then commissioned to realize a gantry project, from building the bunkers to validating the beam. A first Proteus®PLUS gantry with a Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS)-dedicated nozzle has already been installed and the first treatment room has been delivered in May 2014. Because the setup time for treating children is always longer, the Center opted to build a second gantry treatment room. At the end of October, an identical gantry will be shipped to the Cyclotron Center in Krakow, Poland, to be installed. Acceptance is expected in September 2015 and hopes are that the first patient treatment will follow a month later in the first gantry treatment room and/or in the eye treatment room.

This will allow the Center to extend its activities beyond research, and make the benefits of proton therapy available within the entire country. The purpose would be to act as a service center for other oncology centers to offer their patients proton therapy treatment. As this will be the first IBA proton therapy facility in Poland, it is serving an example case, and the entire Polish medical and scientific world is looking on with much interest.