LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE, BELGIUM, 8 March 2016 – IBA (Ion Beam Applications SA), the world's leading provider of proton therapy solutions for the treatment of cancer, recently hosted its 5th Annual Global User Meeting for its Proton Therapy Users across the world. As the world's leading supplier of Proton Therapy systems with over 22 clinical sites in operation and another 17 in construction, IBA seeks to develop Proton Therapy with input from its Users. To this end our meeting hosted more than 200 participants who joined to share their latest Proton Therapy clinical experiences as well as to foster strong collaboration and exchange between the various sites.
Olivier Legrain, CEO stated during his opening remarks, "It is wonderful to see our community of Proton Therapy Users growing so rapidly. Our company philosophy to engage all of our Users in the future of proton therapy continues to be reinforced with every new User we bring into our IBA family".
This year, the meeting was hosted by APSS Trento, Italy, one of the newest and most advanced facilities complete with 2 gantries and an In-room diagnostic CT.
The 3 day Meeting covered:
Maintenance and operation: IBA shared all of the system improvements which resulted in a global uptime improvement across the installed base reaching up to 98,4%.
Upgradeability: IBA is the only company that has demonstrated upgradeability in its installed base. Upgrades to pencil beam scanning (PBS), cone beam CT (CBCT) and gantry rolling floors were just a few of the upgrades discussed.
Clinical experience was shared by several IBA customers, with a focus on the growing potential of indications for treatment with PBS, the use of CBCT and arising clinical challenges.
Clinical innovations were discussed and debated, including improvements in range uncertainties (prompt gamma, proton radiography and IBA dosimetry) and treatment of moving targets.
The enthusiasm for IBA's Annual User Meeting was evident in the customer feedback:
Dr Maurizio Amichetti, Head Proton Therapy Department, APSS Trento said, "On behalf of our local Institution and our multi-professional team, I would like to thank IBA for choosing our center and our city to host this important event. The meeting was very fruitful and gave an opportunity for clinicians, physicists, technologists and administrators to interact and share experience and opinions."
Dr Andrew Lee, Medical Director, Texas Center for Proton Therapy: "The Texas Center for Proton Therapy is proud to be part of such a large network of IBA proton facilities. The recent user's meeting elucidated why IBA is a leader in this field and exhibited their commitment to improve lives through proton therapy. We look forward to our continued partnership with IBA to make a positive impact on the lives of cancer patients in Texas and beyond."
Dr Lane Rosen, Medical Director, Willis-Knighton Cancer Center said, "Willis-Knighton Cancer Center together with the Dallas Proton Center is proud to co-host the 2017 IBA Proteus User Meeting. Physicians, Medical Physicists, Administrators and Vendor Representatives from 4 continents and at least 15-20 countries are expected to attend. This will be an excellent opportunity to show off the clinical advantages of IBA's compact 1 room system, the Proteus One.''
Frederic Genin, Proton Therapy Chief Marketing Officer shared, "Our Annual User Meeting is one of the most important events that we host. The candid exchange between our customers and our company translates directly into continued improvement in our products and services, such as the only FDA approved CBCT in proton therapy, unmatched reliability, innovations and reduced operating costs."
More pictures from the User Meeting
