Europe’s First Compact Proton Accelerator Arrives in the Netherlands

MAASTRO Clinic will be the first HYPERSCAN Pencil Beam Scanning Center in Europe

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Europe's First Compact Proton Accelerator Arrives in the Netherlands (Photo: Business Wire)

LITTLETON, Mass.--()--Mevion Medical Systems has delivered the compact accelerator for the MEVION S250i Proton Therapy System® to Zuid-Oost Nederland Protonen Therapie Centrum (ZON-PTC) at the MAASTRO Clinic in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The MEVION S250i system features HYPERSCAN™ technology , the next generation of pencil beam scanning (PBS) for faster, sharper, and more robust proton treatments.

The accelerator is the core of the S250i system and its delivery represents a significant milestone in the ZON-PTC project. The 15-ton accelerator is the smallest of its kind in the world. It was lowered by crane into the treatment facility on Saturday for installation to the gantry system. Construction of the treatment facility began last April and the center is slated to treat patients by the end of 2018.

“We are very excited to see the rapid progress on this project,” said Maria Jacobs, CEO of ZON-PTC/MAASTRO Clinic. “Bringing proton therapy to our patients is critical to our mission. Mevion’s compact system has enabled us to build the proton treatment room directly into our existing radiation department, which is located in a narrow space between two clinical buildings. We believe it is the only system that could have integrated to our existing clinic so well.”

Mevion’s mission is to make proton therapy accessible to more patients worldwide. By reducing the size and complexity of a proton therapy system Mevion has the lowered treatment cost per patient. This allows hospitals to adopt proton therapy without the enormous expenditures and space requirements for older generation multi-room proton systems.

“Meeting project timelines is a critical concern for our customers,” said Curt Kienast, Mevion’s VP of Installation and Service. “Through the design of our modular system, our installation team capabilities, and partnerships with local construction companies we have been able to drastically reduce installation timelines. This accelerator module is pre-tuned from the factory, which enables our on-site installation team to get it up and delivering beam in a matter of months.”

Proton therapy is a precise form of radiation therapy that has the potential to reduce the amount of radiation exposure in some cancers. HYPERSCAN pencil beam scanning improves on current proton therapy techniques enabling clinicians to deliver conformal fields faster and with more precision than in the past.

“We are looking forward to the Mevion system which includes both the HYPERSCAN pencil beam scanning as well as the integration of a new in-room cone beam CT system,” said Geert Bosmans, Head of Proton Physics at ZON-PTC. “As clinicians, it is imperative we have confidence in the precision of the therapy we are delivering. We have been collaborating with the Mevion team for some time now and are looking forward to having these advanced capabilities both for patient treatment and research in the field of proton therapy.”

HYPERSCAN is Mevion’s latest development in the fight against cancer and ZON-PTC will be the first center in Europe to deploy this tool. Demonstrating that compact proton therapy is a viable option for any size cancer center is core to Mevion’s mission of making proton therapy accessible to as many patients as possible.

About Mevion Medical Systems®
Mevion Medical Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of proton therapy systems for use in radiation treatment for cancer patients. Mevion is based in Littleton, Massachusetts, with a presence in the Europe and China. For more information, please visit www.mevion.com .

Follow Mevion on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mevionmedical

Connect with Mevion on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mevion-medical-systems

Contacts

Mevion
Melanie Benton, 978-540-1551
mbenton@mevion.com

Contacts

Mevion
Melanie Benton, 978-540-1551
mbenton@mevion.com