Project description
Mixed ion beams enable simultaneous delivery and monitoring of radiation
Carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) delivers radiation to tumours with unprecedented precision. However, in practice, the patient’s movements or organ motions mean the beam faces uncertainties in the target location. To compensate for that, doctors increase the irradiated volume to ensure target coverage, diminishing CIRT’s advantage. The ERC-funded PROMISE project aims to enable for the first time the production and simultaneous acceleration of carbon ion beams to treat the tumour, and helium ion beams to monitor tumour location. The team will couple the mixed ion beam production with innovative detectors, AI-based image recognition and online dose reconstruction to drastically reduce target location and beam range uncertainty, thereby shrinking the irradiated volume and unleashing the full potential of CIRT.
Objective
Half of the approximately 4 million annual cancer cases in Europe receive radiotherapy. While many cancer patients have benefitted from technical improvements in recent years, widespread diseases, such as pancreatic and lung cancer, still have dismally low cure rates, with median survival of less than 2 years. Carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) offers unprecedented precision in delivering tumour dose, and can be the much needed game changer for these patients. However, CIRT is vulnerable to uncertainties in patient positioning, anatomy changes and organ motion. The current clinical approach is to increase the high dose volume to ensure target coverage, counteracting the primary advantage of CIRT. Novel strategies for image guidance and beam range assessment are crucial to unlock the full potential of CIRT for the best possible patient care.
PROMISE, for the first time, will produce mixed ion beams that enable concurrent treatment and image guidance. Carbon ions deliver the dose to the target while Helium ions, simultaneously accelerated to the same velocity, traverse the patient and monitor tumour location and beam range. PROMISE realizes true portal imaging, providing real-time information on the target anatomy as seen by the treatment beam. Coupled with innovative detectors, AI-based image recognition, and online dose reconstruction, this technique will enable to drastically reduce safety margins, and achieve the full potential of CIRT.
The GSI accelerators are uniquely suited to develop the first mixed beam of Carbon and Helium, along with strategies for their cost-effective translation to existing and future clinical CIRT centres. The method will be validated experimentally in GSI’s former CIRT treatment room. Patient simulation studies will highlight clinical benefit and characterize ideal use cases. A demonstration in an animal model will pave the way for clinical transition. The mixed beam image guidance of PROMISE will lead to a paradigm shift in CIRT.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
- natural sciences physical sciences theoretical physics particle physics particle accelerator
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology lung cancer
- engineering and technology medical engineering diagnostic imaging computed tomography
- natural sciences computer and information sciences artificial intelligence computer vision
- natural sciences biological sciences biophysics
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
64291 Darmstadt
Germany
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