The aim of the division Radiation Oncology with an emphasis on particle therapy is to optimize patients’ treatment with radiotherapy by applying the best standards of care and by performing clinical research and fostering the translation of preclinical research in a clinical setting.
The MedAustron Ion Therapy and Research Centre, teaching and research site of the KL, is one of six facilities in the world that can deliver radiotherapy with both protons and carbon ions beams. We aim to reduce unwanted side effects of radiation (especially in pediatric solid tumors, head and neck squamo-cellular carcinoma and CNS tumors treated with protons) and to improve local control of radio-resistant tumors (especially in bulky bone and soft tissue sarcoma, salivary gland tumors and mucosal melanoma treated with carbon ions). Our mission is to provide the best possible care to every patient, to increase the level of evidence for particle therapy by performing clinical research and to explore new applications of particle therapy in the multidisciplinary framework of cancer care.
Among the many ongoing activities we are focusing on: documenting prospectively quality of life in patients treated in the CNS and head and neck area, producing solid evidence for sacral chordoma leading an international prospective trial of particle therapy vs. surgery, exploring the potential synergies between particle therapy and immunomodulating drugs, exploring alternative optimization algorithms for carbon ion radiotherapy, investigating the role of particle therapy in non-resectable pancreatic tumors, investigating the role of particle therapy in reirradiation focusing on the estimate of dose constraints for critical organs at risk. For these activities awe rely on a close cooperation with the Division Medical Physics, with the division Molecular Oncology and Hematology and with several surgical departments.
