CERN Accelerating science

Particles that fight cancer: the use of protons and carbon ions in cancer therapy

Cancer is a major societal issue. A key challenge for cancer therapy is the complex and multifaceted nature of the disease, which calls for personalised treatment. Radiotherapy has been used to treat tumours for more than a century, and is still a staple in oncology: today, 50 % of cancer patients receive radiotherapy, half of them with curative intent.

Hadrontherapy is one of the most technologically advanced methods of delivering radiation dose to the tumour while protecting surrounding healthy tissues. In addition, hadrontherapy can reach otherwise difficult to access deep-seated tumours and can be used for radio resistant tumours as in hypoxia.

This year marks 60 years since the first patient was treated with protons in the US and 20 years since the use of carbon ions in Japan. Join us in learning about the journey of particle therapy in Japan and Europe, its challenges, clinical results and future prospects.

Thursday 20th November  16:00 – 18:00
CERN Main auditorium
( Entrance free – Limited number of seats)

 Coffee at 15:30

The Speakers....

Prof. Roberto Orecchia
Head of department of Radiotherapy, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy
Scientific director of the CNAO foundation, Pavia, Italy

Prof. Jens Overgaard
MD DMSc, Head of department
Department of Experimental Clinical Oncology
Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark

Prof. Hirohiko Tsujii
Director of the Research Center for Charged Particle Therapy, at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), Chiba, Japan