European Particle Therapy Network (EPTN)

The European Particle Therapy Network (EPTN) became a task force of ESTRO in 2017. It was established in 2015 in response to the anticipated increase in the number of particle therapy centres in Europe. In addition, the need to cooperate among centres and integrate particles (i.e. protons and carbons) in the framework of clinical research networks was identified as being of paramount importance. ESTRO, at the time of initiation of the network, was asked to collaborate with EPTN and agreed to facilitate the group.

Particle therapy (PT) is only one part of radiation oncology, and needs to be well aligned with other radiation techniques as well as with general developments in cancer research and patient care. PT offers both new opportunities for providing excellence in cancer care, and for high-quality research within the framework of European  networks.

Organisation

The EPTN is led by three co-chairs and is composed of 8 working packages (WP) with experts of different topics to further elaborate the particle European discussions.
The EPTN meets once a year through the EPTN annual meeting.

The EPTN co-chairs are:

• Cai Grau (Aarhus, DK) 
• Damien Weber (Villigen, CH) 
• Dietmar Georg (Vienna, AT)

The EPTN has its own internal standard operating procedure (SOP), covering its policies, aims, and organisation of the network.
Use this link to consult the EPTN SOP.

EPTN Work Packages

Each WP is structured with one or more coordinators and is thematically established to cover key challenges and developments related to the EPTN and its work. Some of the core responsibilities and aims of the WPs consist chiefly of engaging in trials, guidelines, white papers, and surveys, as well as establishing and hosting workshops and courses.
Below, each work package is listed with its own dedicated section, outlining its general organisational structure, as well as any particular developments and news from the work package.

Work Package 1: Clinical Evidence

Coordinators:
Hans Langendijk, The Netherlands
Karin Haustermans, Belgium

Work Package 2: Quality assurance

Coordinators:
Oliver Jäkel, Germany
Sairos Safai, Switzerland
Stefano Lorentini, Italy

Work Package 3: Education

Coordinators:
Morten Høyer, Denmark
Marco Schwarz, USA
Rita Simoes, UK

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Paediatric Proton Therapy Workshop in Essen

Dear EPTN member,

The third ESTRO/EPTN WP3 workshop will be held January 16-17, 2025, at West German Proton Therapy Centre (WPE) in Essen. The topic for the workshop is proton therapy to children and young adolescents.

The target group for the workshop is physicians, medical physicists, and radiotherapy technologists with interest in paediatric radiotherapy and proton therapy.

Registration and information: www.estro.org/courses

We invite you to register for this EPTN WP3 Workshop in Essen.

Work Package 4: Image guidance

EPTN-WP4 Annual Workshop on 21st and 22nd of November 2024, in Delft, Netherlands!   The annual workshop of the EPTN Work Package 4 on “Image Guidance in Particle Therapy will take place on the 21st and 22nd of November 2024 at HollandPTC in Delft, the Netherlands. The EPTN WP4 coordinators, Alessandra Bolsi and Aswin Hoffmann, kindly invite you to register for this workshop. If you wish to participate in this workshop, please use this link to register: https://forms.office.com/e/ixqmeDJc1G Registrations are open until the 8th of November 2024. Please find the agenda and travel information here, as well as below under "Events". Looking forward to seeing you at HollandPTC in Delft in November! On behalf of the EPTN WP4 coordinators, Alessandra Bolsi and Aswin Hoffmann.

Coordinators:
Aswin Hoffmann, Germany
Alessandra Bolsi, Switzerland

Aims:

• Consolidate existing knowledge
  Gather and synthesize information on current clinical experience, guidelines and research related to IGPT to establish a comprehensive understanding of its principles and applications.
• Identify clinical practice parameters and patterns
  Systematically identify clinical practice parameters and patterns regarding IGPT, aiming to standardise treatment protocols, optimise workflows and provide excellence in patient care across institutions.
• Develop evidence-based consensus guidelines
  Systematically collect and review available evidence to formulate evidence-based recommendations for the minimum clinical and technical requirements for IGPT in different cancer types, treatment settings and patient populations.
• Facilitate collaborative research
  Stimulate collaboration among researchers and institutions to conduct high-quality multicentric studies aimed at advancing the understanding and refining the practice of IGPT, with the aim to standardise treatment protocols, optimise workflows and improve treatment outcomes.
• Promote education and awareness
  Foster education and awareness among all professional sub-disciplines about the appropriate utilisation of IGPT through the organisation of the annual workshop and the dissemination of practice patterns and consensus guidelines.

Organisation:

The “Image Guidance” work package has the following body-site specific sub-working groups (in alphabetical order):

• Abdominal tumours
  Sub-working group Leader: Markus Stock (AT)
• Brain tumours
  Sub-working group Leaders: Iuliana Toma-Dasu (SE), Dante Amelio (IT)
• CSI tumours
  Sub-working group Leaders: Petra Trnková (CZ), Alessandra Bolsi (CH)
• Extremity tumours
  Sub-working group Leaders: Lorenzo Placidi (IT), Alessandra Bolsi (CH), Juliette Thariat (FR)
• Head and neck tumours
  Sub-working group Leader: Juliette Thariat (IT)
• Pelvic tumours
  Sub-working group Leaders: Markus Stock (AT), Christian Reschl (AT)
• Thoracic tumours
  Sub-working group Leader: Alexandru Dasu (SE)

Projects:

• Comprehensive evaluation of inter- and intrafraction accuracy of immobilization devices used for image-guided particle radiation therapy: a multicenter study

Study Managers: Amelio Dante (IT), Daniele Scartoni (IT)

Description: here

Events:

The “Image Guidance” work package organises an annual event to discuss ongoing activities related to the aforementioned aims of the work package.

• Upcoming workshop

​2024, November 21^st-22^nd: HollandPTC, Delft (NL) - see agenda

• Past workshops

2023: Skandionkliniken, Uppsala (SE) - Progress Report 2023

2022: MedAustron, Wiener Neustadt (AT) - Progress Report 2022

2021: virtual meeting                  

2020: virtual meeting - Progress Report 2020

2019: Centro di Protonterapia, Trento (IT) - Progress Report 2019

2018: Proton Therapy Center Czech, Prague (CZ) - Progress Report 2018

2017: University ProtonTherapy Dresden, Dresden (DE) - Progress Report 2017

2016 : Progress Report 2016

News:

• Publications
  • Trnková P, Dasu A, Placidi L, Stock M, Toma-Dasu I, Brouwer CL, Gosling A, Jouglar E, Kristensen I, Martin V, Moinuddin S, Pasquie I, Peters S, Pica A, Plaude S, Righetto R, Rombi B, Thariat J, van der Weide H, Hoffmann A, Bolsi A. Patterns of practice of image guided particle therapy for cranio-spinal irradiation: A site specific multi-institutional survey of European Particle Therapy Network. Physica Medica 2024; 123: 103407. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2024.103407
  • Bolsi A, Peroni M, Amelio D, Dasu A, Stock M, Toma-Dasu I, Nyström PW, Hoffmann A. Practice patterns of image guided particle therapy in Europe: A 2016 survey of the European Particle Therapy Network (EPTN). Radiother Oncol 2018; 128(1): 4-8. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2018.03.017.

Work Package 5: Treatment planning

Coordinators:
Christian Richter, Germany
Tony Lomax, Switzerland

Work Package 6: Radiobiology

Coordinators:
Brita Sørensen, Denmark
Armin Lühr, Germany

Work Package 7: Health economy - HTA

Coordinator:
Yolande Lievens, Belgium

Work Package 8: Data registry infrastructure

Coordinators:
Esther Troost, Germany
Vincent Gregoire, France

EPTN Reports

EPTN Reports

• EPTN Report 2023
• EPTN Report 2022
• EPTN Report 2021
• EPTN Report 2020
• EPTN Report 2019
• EPTN Report 2018
• EPTN Report 2017
• EPTN Report 2016

EPTN Documents

• WP5 PTPS specifications

EPTN Publications

• The posterior cerebellum, a new organ at risk?

• Prospective data registration and clinical trials for particle therapy in Europe

• Optimizing clinical research and generating prospective high-quality data in particle therapy in Europe: Introducing the European Particle Therapy Network (EPTN)

• ULICE Collaborative Research Group. Union of light ion therapy centers in Europe (ULICE EC FP7) - Objectives and achievements of joint research activities

• Proton therapy for pediatric malignancies: Fact, figures and costs. A joint consensus statement from the pediatric subcommittee of PTCOG, PROS and EPTN

• Overview of research and therapy facilities for radiobiological experimental work in particle therapy. Report from the European Particle Therapy Network radiobiology group

• ENLIGHT: European network for Light ion hadron therapy

• Practice patterns of image guided particle therapy in Europe: A 2016 survey of the European Particle Therapy Network (EPTN)

• “European Particle Therapy Network” of ESTRO. The EPTN consensus-based atlas for CT- and MR-based contouring in neuro-oncology

• Bringing Europe together in building clinical evidence for proton therapy - the EPTN-ESTRO-EORTC endeavor

• Proton therapy and the European Particle Therapy Network: The past, present and future

• Particle therapy in Europe

• Update of the EPTN atlas for CT- and MR-based contouring in Neuro-Oncology

• Does the uncertainty in relative biological effectiveness affect patient treatment in proton therapy?

• Is a variable proton RBE considered in clinical practice? - ESTRO survey among 25 proton centres

• Does the uncertainty in relative biological effectiveness affect patient treatment in proton therapy?

• Update of the EPTN atlas for CT- and MR-based contouring in Neuro-Oncology

• The European particle therapy network (EPTN) consensus on the follow-up of adult patients with brain and skull base tumours treated with photon or proton irradiation

• Clinical use and future requirements of relative biological effectiveness: Survey among all European proton therapy centres

• Development of explanatory movies for the delineation of new organs at risk in neuro-oncology

• Development and evaluation of an automated EPTN-consensus based organ at risk atlas in the brain on MRI

• A year of pandemic for European particle radiotherapy: A survey on behalf of EPTN working group

• Clinical use and future requirements of relative biological effectiveness: Survey among all European proton therapy centres

• Clinical necessity of multi-image based (4D_MIB) optimization for targets affected by respiratory motion and treated with scanned particle therapy - A comprehensive review

• The European Particle Therapy Network (EPTN) consensus on the follow-up of adult patients with brain and skull base tumours treated with photon or proton irradiation

• Geometric and dosimetric analysis of CT- and MR-based automatic contouring for the EPTN contouring atlas in neuro-oncology

• Towards a European prospective data registry for particle therapy

• ESTRO-EPTN radiation dosimetry guidelines for the acquisition of proton pencil beam modelling data