23.02.18

Employees from Varian Medical Systems and Danish Centre for Particle Therapy celebrated "beam-on" - the first time protons were extracted from the cyclotron (photo: Tonny Foghmar).

For the first time, beams were extracted from the cyclotron in the Danish Centre for Particle Therapy, which will provide highly specialised radiation therapy for patients with cancer from all over Denmark from October 2018.

Thursday the 22 February 2018, was as day of celebration at Danish Centre for Particle Therapy, Aarhus University Hospital. For the first time, protons were extracted from the particle accelerator – or the cyclotron – which is the heart of the centre.

In June 2017, the 71 ton particle accelerator was lifted into the new buildings and a team of technicians from the producer Varian Medical Systems have since then worked hard to install and prepare the equipment for Danish Centre of Particle Therapy.

The heart of treatment

Thursday protons were successfully extracted from the cyclotron – the beams that constitute the essential part of particle therapy.

- We have reached another important milestone in the establishment of Danish Centre for Particle Therapy in a good collaboration with the supplier of the equipment, says Ole Nørrevang, Head Physicist at Danish Centre for Particle Therapy.

The equipment for the treatment is financed by a donation of DKK 250 million from the A.P. Møller Foundation.

First patient is treated in October

The first patient will be treated with particle therapy in October 2018. In the next months, technicians will continue to generate protons and lead them into the treatment rooms for patients. The next step is for the hospital physicists to start preparing the treatment of patients.

Particle therapy is a more gentle type of radiation therapy to patients with cancer. It is particularly useful in the treatment of children and adults with tumours in e.g. the brain or located close to the spine.

Facts about Danish Centre for Particle Therapy 

• Danish Centre for Particle Therapy will be a national centre providing highly specialised radiation therapy for patients with cancer. The centre is under construction at Aarhus University Hospital and the first patients will be treated in October 2018.
• In full operation, Danish Centre for Particle Therapy will have a capacity to perform approximately 30,000 treatments annually, equivalent to approximately 1,200 patients. A total number of approximately 120 full-time employees will manage patient treatment. In addition, a number of externally financed researchers, PhD students, pupils and students from all staff groups will be attached to the centre.  
• The centre will be 9,500 square meters. In addition to the cyclotron, there will be three treatment rooms, research facilities and facilities for patients, relatives and clinical staff. Danish Centre for Particle Therapy is established in a close collaboration between Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus University and Central Denmark Region.
• Establishment of the centre costs approximately DKK 800 million, of which DKK 280 million will cover equipment. A.P. Møller and wife Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller’s Foundation has donated DKK 250 million to the cyclotron.
• Read more about particle therapy at Aarhus University Hospital

Contact person – Danish Centre for Particle Therapy:

Ole Nørrevang, Head Physicist, Tel.: +45 21 17 41 93