20 percent more patients were treated with proton therapy in 2019
An individual eye shield is made for each patient to protect the surrounding tissue from the proton beam. © HZB
Number of patients who received the proton therapy offered jointly by Charité and HZB. © HZB/J. Politt
For more than 20 years, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) have jointly offered the irradiation of eye tumors with protons. In 2019, more patients were treated in Berlin-Wannsee than ever before. 276 patients - 20 percent more than in the previous year - underwent proton therapy. The treatment is specialized in choroidal melanomas of the eye. The proton accelerator at HZB is the only treatment facility for this disease in Germany.
500 to 600 people in Germany are affected by a malignant choroidal melanoma every year. In 97 percent of cases, the tumour can be completely destroyed by irradiation with protons. In most cases, not only the eye but also the vision can be maintained to a satisfactory degree. "The energy of the proton beam can be adjusted in such a way that practically only the tumor receives the radiation. Since the protons have a straight trajectory, the lateral scattering is much less than with X-rays," explains Dr. Jens Heufelder, the senior medical physicist at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The protons effectively destroy the tumor, while the surrounding healthy tissue is largely spared.
To cope with the increase in patients in 2019, treatment operations at the proton accelerator have been extended to 12 hours. Approximately 45 percent of the patients came from the Berlin-Brandenburg region, the other patients came from other German states and other European countries (approximately 8 percent). The youngest patient who received proton therapy at HZB in 2019 was 8 years old, the oldest patient 96 years old. The average age was 61 years.
Since 1998, more than 3,700 patients have been treated with protons from the HZB accelerator. "The success of proton therapy is based on the collaboration between ophthalmologists, medical physicists and accelerator experts. As a result, the therapy has been continuously improved for the benefit of patients over the past few years", explains Prof. Dr. Andrea Denker, head of proton therapy at HZB.
- NETZWERKTAG der Allianz für Bauwerkintegrierte PhotovoltaikDer 2. Netzwerktag der Allianz BIPV findet statt am
14.02.2023
10:00 - ca. 16:00 UhrDas HZB, Mitglied in der Allianz BIPV, freut sich, Gastgeber des branchenweiten Austausches zu sein. Neben Praxiserfahrungen von Vertretenden aus Architektur, Fassadenbau und angewandter Forschung steht der direkte Austausch und die Diskussion im Vordergrund.
- Scientists Develop New Technique to Image Fluctuations in MaterialsA team of scientists, led by researchers from the Max Born Institute in Berlin and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin in Germany and from Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States has developed a revolutionary new method for capturing high-resolution images of fluctuations in materials at the nanoscale using powerful X-ray sources. The technique, which they call Coherent Correlation Imaging (CCI), allows for the creation of sharp, detailed movies without damaging the sample by excessive radiation. By using an algorithm to detect patterns in underexposed images, CCI opens paths to previously inaccessible information. The team demonstrated CCI on samples made of thin magnetic layers, and their results have been published in Nature.
- High-energy X-rays leave a trace of destruction in bone collagenA team of medical researchers at Charité has analyzed damage by focused high energetic X-rays in bone samples from fish and mammals at BESSY II. With a combination of microscopy techniques, the scientists could document the destruction of collagen fibres induced by electrons emitted from the mineral crystals. X-ray methods might impact bone samples when measured for a long time they conclude.