DUPROTON

Ambition

To act jointly with all Dutch proton therapy centres to ensure access to high quality proton therapy in the Netherlands. To establish the clinical value of proton therapy and to understand and exploit the unique properties of proton therapy for patient care through the DUPROTON research consortium.

Aims and activities

1. Providing scientific evidence of the benefit of protons over photons and to identify patients who will benefit most.
To achieve this, DUPROTON pursues:

• • Evaluation of Standard indications and Model Based Selection
  • Develop new indications and alternative approaches
  • Continuation of ProTRAIT infrastructure, or expand with alternatives

2. Developing a research consortium, with joint research projects and scientific meetings.
The DUPROTON Research Consortium is a community that performs research on four main research themes: Clinical, Biology, Physics and Technology and Health Economics. The Research Consortium operates under the guidance of a Steering Committee.
Examples of research collaborations and guidelines:

• • Practical robustness evaluation in radiotherapy – A photon and proton-proof alternative to PTV-based plan evaluation. Radiother Oncol. 2019 Dec;141:267-274. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2019.08.005. Epub 2019 Sep 3. PMID: 31492443.
  • Evaluating and reporting LET and RBE-weighted dose in proton therapy for glioma – The Dutch approach. Radiother Oncol. 2024 Nov 25:110653. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2024.110653. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39603511.
  • KWF consortium project ‘INTO-PROT’. Main aims: Understanding the mechanisms of differences between photons and protons, both for tumour and normal tissue and improving the therapeutic index

3. Developing and coordinating a joint strategy to decrease practice variation in referral for proton therapy and ensure accessibility.

4. Developing and coordinating a joint communication strategy.