Real-time Adaptive Particle Therapy of Cancer (RAPTOR)
RAPTOR brings together 13 Beneficiaries and 15 partner organizations with one aim in common: To bring adaptive particle therapy to the clinic.
Introduction
The high precision of particle therapy (PT) comes as a double-edged sword since PT is normally less robust than X-ray radiotherapy. Several uncertainties, such as changes in anatomy, positioning, organ delineation and systematic uncertainties can have a significant impact on where the final dose is delivered. The reliability of PT has increased in recent years with robust treatment planning, however, it still remains sensitive to larger uncertainties that have to be minimized to exploit the full benefit of PT.
The clinical workflow in PT has been adopted from conventional X-ray radiotherapy, where the treatment plan is based on the initial computed tomography (CT) scan of a patient. Since, the treatment usually lasts several weeks, it is likely that the initial treatment plan becomes less valid due to the changes of the patient anatomy as the treatment progresses.
We propose a shift in the paradigm
- Preparing a daily PT treatment plan for each patient, that is based on current patient images, would significantly increase treatment accuracy since most of the uncertainties would be minimized.
- The advantages of PT could be better utilized in an interventional capacity.
- Due to its flexibility and rapid adaptation, RAPTOR will enable treating patients in the sitting and standing positions, which will facilitate simpler, more compact, and less costly beamline designs.
- RAPTOR will therefore make the benefits of proton therapy available to many more patients.
Our research projects
News & Articles
PHD position in Dresden and Heidelberg: Online Adaptive Particle Therapy
Are you interested in bringing research into clinical practice? Be part of a collaborative project about online adaptive particle therapy between Dresden and Heidelberg. To read
Newsletter RAPTOR n*5, August 2024
Welcome to the fifth issue of the RAPTOR newsletter! We’re thrilled to share the latest edition of the RAPTOR Newsletter, highlighting our strides in real-time
Call for papers: Physics and Imaging in Radiation Oncology
Online and real-time adaptive treatment strategies have been the focus of clinical research in radiation oncology for many years. For particle therapy, adaptive treatment concepts
PHD position in Dresden and Heidelberg: Online Adaptive Particle Therapy
Are you interested in bringing research into clinical practice? Be part of a collaborative project about online adaptive particle therapy between Dresden and Heidelberg. To read
Newsletter RAPTOR n*5, August 2024
Welcome to the fifth issue of the RAPTOR newsletter! We’re thrilled to share the latest edition of the RAPTOR Newsletter, highlighting our strides in real-time
Call for papers: Physics and Imaging in Radiation Oncology
Online and real-time adaptive treatment strategies have been the focus of clinical research in radiation oncology for many years. For particle therapy, adaptive treatment concepts
PHD position in Bergen, Norway on range verification and adaptive proton therapy
We are announcing an opportunity to join the NOVO project – Next generation imaging for real-time dose verification enabling adaptive proton therapy (financed by the
Member of RAPTOR Consortium
RAPTOR brings together 13 Beneficiaries and 15 partner organizations from all over Europe with one aim in common: To bring adaptive particle therapy to the clinic.