Cancer is a central health problem for our society and is, unfortunately, set to spiral. A large fraction of patients treated for cancer receive radiation therapy, most often together with other treatment modalities as a part of a holistic treatment approach. Most cancer radiation treatments, worldwide, are delivered with high-energy X-rays, despite their physical and biological limitations. However, hadron therapy, also known as particle therapy, using protons and heavier ions, has many advantages over conventional X-Ray radiotherapy. Protons and heavy ion beams can irradiate tumors by focusing precisely on cancerous tissue whilst sparing healthy tissue around it, making the treatment more effective than any other irradiation treatment.
Due to this, the European Union, through its H2020 research and innovation program, is funding the Heavy Ion Therapy Research Integration (HITRIplus) project with a strong componnent supporting dissemiantion, education and networking in heavy ion therapy research.
We are, hence, pleased to announce this four-days international event which presents an Overeview of the Status and Perspectives of Hadron Therapy and which includes (a) a specialised 2-days workshop (b) a specialized 1-day course on Treatement Planning (c) students sessions and networking events for newcomers in Heavy Ion Therapy Research with a focus on clinical aspects.
The lectures will be delivered by over 10 world-leading experts in the field. They will cover the basic principles of hadron therapy and radiobiology, experiences of the European running hadron therapy centres and their future plans, present and future clinical trials, and will include specific indications for hadron therapy such as head and neck, sarcoma and others. Dedicated sessions will address pediatrics as well as emerging methods, such as combinations of hadron therapy with immunotherapy and FLASH therapy, highlighting also unfolding reserach avenues and the related necessary technical advancements.
The 1-day course dedicated to Treatement Planning is inspired by the "train-the-trainer" hands-on session of the very popular May 2021 HITRIplus Masterclass school. This is based on the professional, open-source, research toolkit matRad, tailored to researcher and education requirements in treatment planning.
These events, will take place between the 18th and 21st of October 2024 in hybrid mode and free of charge. The lectures will also be recorded and made freely available online.
They are primarily intended to clinicians of all levels in radiotherapy and particle therapy as well as for medical students specializing or considering specializing in oncology. The ultimate goal is to address and prepare motivated oncologists, as well as early-stage researchers and students who show strong promise and interest in becoming part of the heavy ion therapy research community and who may then optimally exploit and access Europe's heavy ion therapy research infrastructures.
They are a satellite event of the Aristotle Medical Forum.
