Welcome to the Center for Proton Therapy at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI. We treat cancer patients and do research for optimised radiotherapy.
© Scanderbeg Sauer Photography
We use the spot scanning technique, also known as pencil beam scanning, to treat cancer patients suffering from certain tumours.
At a glance: the advantages of 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.
- This technique is the leading method worldwide for proton therapy. It was developed at our institute.
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.
Treatment of cancer with protons
In this video, one of our patients tells about her experience receiving treatment here.
Our specialists for your treatment
At the Centre for Proton Therapy we offer you precision cancer treatment with potential. This requires many different specialists. For example, in diagnosis: Damien Weber has been head and chairman of the Centre for Proton Therapy at PSI since 2013. Every week he and his colleagues analyse magnetic resonance images of patients that show precisely which tissue must be bombarded with protons.
At the Centre for Proton Therapy we offer you precision cancer treatment with potential. This requires many different specialists. For example, in therapy planning: Dosimetrist Nicola Bizzocchi plans each patient's therapy on an individual basis. To do this, he uses a computer program to divide the tumour into different zones. Each of these zones will be precisely irradiated with an intensity specifically defined for it. This minimises potential side-effects of the treatment and guarantees that the therapy will be as successful as possible.
At the Centre for Proton Therapy we offer you precision cancer treatment with potential. This requires many different specialists. For example, in the therapy: Olga Jose is a medical-technical radiology specialist and acting head of the radiology group. She performs quality control for the irradiation device and carries out the therapy. She places the patient in the correct starting position on the couch, and she makes sure that the irradiation proceeds smoothly and that the patients – as far as possible – feel at ease.
At the Centre for Proton Therapy we offer you precision cancer treatment with potential. This requires many different specialists. For example, in facility operations: Industrial physicist Zema Chowdhuri's domain is behind the scenes of the treatment rooms, extending from the proton accelerator COMET to the beamline through which the protons speed to the treatment station, and on to the gantry, the actual treatment room. She ensures the smooth operation of the equipment used to precisely guide the protons and control the dosage.
At the Centre for Proton Therapy we offer you precision cancer treatment with potential. This requires many different specialists. For example, in research: Physicist David Meer conducts research to further improve proton therapy and make it even more precise. For example, he uses a human manikin to investigate how the treatment of tumours in the chest and abdomen can be optimised. There tumours are especially hard to hit accurately, because the tissue is constantly in motion due to breathing; also, the heart is always beating.
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