Projektbeschreibung
Kostengünstige Softwarelösung für die Partikeltherapie
Eine von vier an Krebs erkrankten Personen erhält im Rahmen ihrer Behandlung eine Strahlentherapie. Bei der Partikeltherapie werden zur Bestrahlung des Tumors geladene Teilchen wie Protonen anstelle von Röntgenstrahlen verwendet. Obwohl die Partikeltherapie zielgerichteter ist und das umliegende Normalgewebe weniger schädigt, verhindern die hohen Behandlungskosten einen umfassenden Einsatz. Das EU-finanzierte Projekt C-TCS bewirbt zur Bewältigung dieser Herausforderung eine Software für das Behandlungssteuerungssystem, das den Betrieb der Geräte in Partikeltherapie-Zentren synchronisiert. Im Gegensatz zu den bisher verfügbaren Lösungen ist die C-TCS-Software universell. Sie kann von verschiedenen Anbietern implementiert werden und erfordert keine spezielle, kostenintensive Software.
Ziel
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.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
- 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
Programm/Programme
Thema/Themen
Aufforderung zur Vorschlagseinreichung
Andere Projekte für diesen Aufruf anzeigenUnterauftrag
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1
Finanzierungsplan
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Koordinator
1000 Ljubljana
Slowenien
Die Organisation definierte sich zum Zeitpunkt der Unterzeichnung der Finanzhilfevereinbarung selbst als KMU (Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen).