Project description
Cost-effective software solution for particle therapy
One in four cancer patients will receive radiotherapy as part of their treatment regimen. Particle therapy (PT) uses charged particles such as protons rather than X-rays to deliver radiation to the tumour. Although PT is more targeted and less harmful to surrounding normal tissues, the high treatment cost has prohibited its widespread implementation. To address this challenge, the EU-funded C-TCS project promotes software for the treatment control system that synchronises the operation of the devices in PT centres. Unlike available solutions to date, the C-TCS software is universal and can be implemented by different vendors, avoiding the need for specialised software that is associated with high costs.
Objective
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death nowadays; 1 in every 2 men and 1 in every 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point of their lives. The number of cancer incidences is growing by 2.4% annually, which puts a financial burden on healthcare systems globally. Particle therapy – PT (proton/neutron/positive ion therapy) has been proven to be effective and a safer alternative to other types of external beam radiotherapy as the charged particle dose is delivered in a narrow range and there is minimal damage to surrounding tissue. In 2015, among all patients that were treated for cancer worldwide, 25% were treated using some sort of radiation. However, building PT centres is very costly (>100M €) which has been a crucial factor in the slow adoption of PT facilities. This is likely to change due to introduction to lower cost/compact systems, and, more importantly, growing clinical evidence regarding its efficacy. A critical part of a PT centre is its treatment control system (TCS), the software that synchronizes the operation of all the devices. Currently, PT centre equipment vendors each custom develop their own TCS, which works only with their own equipment, is of limited configurability, closed to adjustments and expensive. Cosylab is a Slovenian company specializing in the field of control systems for particle accelerators with 17 years of experience in the field. We are developing our TCS (C-TCS) as an off-the-shelf product, that is universally usable on all vendors´ (integrators or manufacturers´) equipment. Our solution is easily configurable, available without lead times, and costing 3-5x-less than custom development. Overall, the C-TCS provides better cancer treatment efficacy, lower production and maintenance cost of PT facility, higher throughput of patients (resulting in more people treated). In 5 years after completion of the project (2025) we expect to employ additional 20 people and achieve a ROI of 5.6.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systems
- natural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsparticle accelerator
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncology
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.