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Part of an interuniversity project of University Hospitals Leuven (together with KU Leuven and Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, UCLouvain and supported by UZ Gent, CHU UCL Namur, UZ Brussel and UZA), PARTICLE has been created to offer clinical care, in addition to education, training and research and development.

The collaborative center has partnered with leading academic partners and research institutes, as well as with industrial partners such as RaySearch, supplier of RayCare and RayStation, and IBA, the supplier of the proton therapy device ProteusONE.

RayCare is designed to enable clinicians to fluidly coordinate tasks and ensure optimal use of resources. PARTICLE is the first proton therapy center in the world to install RayCare to support comprehensive cancer care and treatment delivery in combination with ProteusONE, a compact proton beam therapy device featuring the latest generation pencil beam scanning and isocenter volumetric imaging capabilities.

Together, the advanced software from RaySearch and cutting-edge equipment from IBA will position PARTICLE at the forefront of innovative cancer treatment in Belgium. The combination of the technologies will help patients in the country gain critical access to proton therapy, which is the optimal option for cancer patients where treatment options are limited, or where conventional radiotherapy presents an unacceptable risk to the patient - as is often the case with children. In addition, having a dedicated proton therapy located about 25 kilometers (16 miles) east of the capital Brussels will help patients avoid the need to travel abroad to access proton therapy treatment.

Prof. Ir. Tom Depuydt, Head of Medical Physics, UZ Leuven, says: "Going live with the proton therapy facility is an exciting time for us at UZ Leuven. When it came to choosing the software, it was really important that the OIS was streamlining the proton therapy workflow throughout the department. We wanted to make sure the OIS and a really innovative TPS are well integrated with each other and with the treatment machine. The choice for RayCare and RayStation was in line with this vision. The integration will make it possible to move forward into adaptive treatment, one of the new ways of radiation therapy."

Johan Löf, founder and CEO, RaySearch, says: "The inauguration of the collaborative PARTICLE center represents an important milestone for proton therapy in Europe. The work carried out at the center will be propelled by an exciting combination of innovative hardware and a powerful software environment with RayStation and RayCare."