Inaugural lecture Mr Prof S. Both, DABR, FAAPM: Ahead of the future...

Proton therapy has been proposed more than 70 years ago but still has not been deployed clinically at its full potential. Conventional radiotherapy uses photons, which have neither mass nor charge and as a result traverse the patient, while protons have mass and charge and when stop in tissue deposit their energy mostly at the end of their range, in a Bragg peak, with virtually no dose beyond the target. This is the advantage and the challenge of the proton beam, it stops but we must determine exactly where.

We call this range uncertainty and its sources lay within the patient, machine, physics and biology. Pencil Beam Scanning is the only automated proton technology capable to paint the dose in 3D around the tumor in one beam with no exit dose. Pencil Beam Scanning is poised to become the main technology to enable prevention of complications without decreasing cure in the era of Precision Medicine, in synergy with novel imaging and biological concepts.

Its realization lies on the shoulders of the radiotherapy team well positioned to advance protons through imaging, robotics, artificial intelligence and biological modeling. A bold look is taken to existing opportunities in the field and uniquely enrich research and education at Groningen University within a well-established “bench to bed and back” approach. In Professor Stefan Boths vision Medical Physics remains at the core of developing multifaceted solutions to bridge the gap between clinical need and technological development and stay ahead of the future.

More information

• Inaugural lecture: Mr Prof S. Both, DABR, FAAPM
• Title: Ahead of the future...
• Chair: Proton Therapy
• Faculty: Medical Sciences
• Register at the latest one week in advance by returning the replycard or by filling in the registration form