Center for Proton Therapy CPT

Welcome to the Center for Proton Therapy at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI. Here we use the spot-scanning technique, also known as Pencil Beam Scanning, to treat cancer patients suffering from tumours.

This technique, which we developed, is the leading method worldwide for proton therapy. Tumours inside the body are targeted and irradiated with the utmost precision, and the surrounding healthy tissue is optimally preserved. This is especially critical in dealing with tumours in the brain, close to nerves, or in other sensitive regions of the body. Children and young people in particular benefit from this type of treatment. That's because the younger a patient is, the more important it is to minimise the risk that irradiation might cause long-term side-effects, such as growth and developmental deficits. Also kept to a minimum is the risk of secondary tumours that might arise years or decades later as a result of the irradiation of healthy tissue.

New treatment inquiries normally reach us through a referring physician, or sometimes from the patients themselves by e-mail or telephone. The selection of patients for proton therapy is based on an assessment of the additional medical benefit it could offer in comparison to other, conventional therapies.