Regio Zuid | Treatment planning assessment for the Optiflux radiosurgery system

In collaboration with technology partners from several high-tech sectors, we're developing a fundamentally novel radiation treatment principle whereby less damaging, sub-MeV X-ray beams are intersected precisely at the site of the tumor; sparing surrounding organs and offering greater precision. .The patient’s ability to bear radiation damage and side-effects is the main limitation in successful cancer treatment and in the end is what determines when a patient is considered “terminal”. A device that is both less damaging and more precise could help treat patients that are less radiation-tolerant as well as shortening the total timespan of treatment - hopefully offering a new perspective for (intractable) advanced, aggressive, diffuse and paediatric cancers. .The technology was discovered by the ESA, which sparked the commissioning of an innovative new type of space telescope (to be launched in 2031). Combining this technology with the lithography-, mechatronics- and clinical expertise present in the Brainport region, we are likely able to turn this into a much less damaging radiotherapy system than the LINAC, Proton and Gamma options that are currently used...This feasibility study is aimed at assessing the clinical efficacy of the envisioned system in virtual Treatment Planning Software (TPS), where it can be benchmarked against today’s most advanced LINAC, Proton and Gamma systems on a case-by-case basis. This prevents the scenario of investing in years of development before discovering at the end of clinical trials that the system cannot produce significant improvements. .The novel principle first has to be replicated in the simulation environment, cases have to be selected and outcomes have to be interpreted..The auditing of validity and interpreting of outcomes will be done by associated cancer centres: Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Netherlands Cancer Institute and DKFZ German Cancer Research Centre...