At this historic place, site of France's first cyclotron – a type of circular particle accelerator –, physicians and researchers have carried on the tradition of innovation initiated by Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie, joint Nobel Prize for their discovery of artificial radioactivity.
After nearly four years of complete renovation, the new Orsay Proton Therapy Center can now receive 550 patients a year, including at least 120 children.
Proton therapy is one of the more successful forms of precision radiation therapy. Since 1991, when it was first used at Orsay, more than 5,000 patients have had the treatment, with very positive results.
Initially developed for tumors of the eye and intracranial tumors, the use of proton therapy is increasing rapidly around the world and indications for it have expanded, especially in pediatrics, due to the reduced risk of treatment-related after-effects.
The Orsay Proton Therapy Center is part of the radiation therapy platform of the Curie Institute, and is presently one of the most comprehensive in Europe. It is equipped with a new-generation proton particle accelerator and a new treatment room with an isocentric arm that can direct the proton particle beam around the patient and treat new, more difficult to access localizations, supplementing the two existing rooms with a fixed beam.