ESTRO 2023

Session Item

Sunday

May 14

15:15 - 16:15

Stolz 2

Patient and public perspective

Chair: , Ireland;

Chair: Sairanne Wickers, United Kingdom

Session Type: Mini-Oral

Track: Interdisciplinary

Journey:

Youth education and outreach with the international Particle Therapy Masterclass

Niklas Wahl, Germany

Presentation Number: MO-0563

Abstract

Abstract Title:

Youth education and outreach with the international Particle Therapy Masterclass

Authors:

Niklas Wahl^1,2, Nikolaos Charitonidis³, Manjit Dosanjh³, Noa Homolka^1,2,4, Christian Graeff^5,6, Aristeidis Mamaras³, Joao Seco^7,8, Damir Skrijelj⁷, Rebecca Taylor³, Albana Topi⁵, Hans-Peter Wieser^1,9, Panagiota Foka^10,3

¹German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg, Germany; ²Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO), Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg, Germany; ³European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland; ⁴University of Heidelberg, Medical Faculty, Heidelberg, Germany; ⁵GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research, Biophysics, Darmstadt, Germany; ⁶Technical University of Darmstadt, Institute of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Darmstadt, Germany; ⁷German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Biomedical Physics in Radiation Oncology, Heidelberg, Germany; ⁸University of Heidelberg, Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany; ⁹Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Faculty of Physics, Munich, Germany; ¹⁰GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research, EMMI, Darmstadt, Germany

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Purpose or Objective

The prevalence of cancer and its treatment with radiotherapy means that contact with cases already at young age is almost inevitable. Often, the topic is insufficiently discussed in school education. This can impact the understanding and trust in complex cancer treatments. Particularly in proton and ion therapy, large and physically complex machines exist worldwide which may fuel anxiety when confronted with such treatments. Outreach and education programs targeted at school children, like our newly established Particle Therapy Masterclass (PTMC), may help mitigating knowledge gaps and trigger interest in radiation oncology as well as natural sciences.

Material and Methods

The new PTMC was established within the program of the International Physics Masterclasses by IPPOG. By default, the PTMC targets senior high school classes. It is scheduled to take a single day and designed to be run in parallel with other institutes: Before noon, lectures are held by experts to introduce the topics of cancer, radiobiology, and particle therapy, especially treatment planning. Together with a lunch break, a machine/lab visit can be scheduled. The afternoon is dominated by a simplified hands-on treatment planning session using the graphical user interface of the open-source treatment planning toolkit matRad, supported by a scripted workflow to guide students (Figure 1).

The Masterclass concludes with a discussion which may be (partially) held as videoconference with other parallel Masterclasses.

An example schedule is shown in the table below:

9:00	Welcome & Registration
9:15	Introduction: Radiobiology and Particle Therapy
10:00	Break
10:15	Treatment Planning: How to locate and irradiate a tumor
11:00	Lab / Machine visit & Lunch Break
13:15	Hands-on Treatment Planning with matRad (inc. flexible breaks)
16:00	Discussion / Videoconference
17:00	End

Results

A first successful pilot of the Particle Therapy Masterclass ran in spring 2019 by inviting pupils to three institutes (DKFZ with its Life Science Lab Heidelberg, GSI, and CERN). Over the following years, the Masterclass was expanded (as pure online course with virtual lab visits due to the pandemic) – in spring 2022, more than 40 individual Masterclasses were distributed across six dates in 22 countries (with particularly high Interest in developing countries, see Figure 2).

The executing institutes could successfully implement the online provided material and tune it to their own specialized expertise. The PTMC with matRad further was also used for University level courses, such as the Heavy Ion Therapy Masterclass School 2021 or the Specialised Course on Heavy Ion Cancer Therapy Research 2022.

Conclusion

The PTMC successfully engaged and connected international pupils. The provided material proved to be adaptable and sufficient for institutes to hold their own Masterclass on different educational levels. In conclusion, the PTMC provides a versatile framework for education and outreach to the general public as well as academia.