The Queen Letizia visited the QuirónSalud Proton Therapy Center this Friday, the first proton therapy facility in Spainwhich is responsible for preserving normal tissues that are developing, as reported by Casa Real.
Upon arrival at the Pozuelo de Alarcón hospital (Madrid, Her Majesty the Queen was received by the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias; the president of the QuirónSalud Group, Víctor Madera and the managing director of the QuirónSalud Proton Therapy Center, Marta Cremades, among other authorities.
The Queen has visited the meeting room where she has held a meeting prior to her visit to the facilities. During this meeting, the managing director of the QuirónSalud Proton Therapy Center, the technical director and head of the Medical Physics service of the QuirónSalud Proton Therapy Center and the scientific director of Radiation Oncology of the QuirónSalud Proton Therapy Center took place. exhibitions about the Center, the therapy and the patients among other.
Subsequently, Doña Letizia began her visit to the facilities, starting with the Medical Consultation, the Resonance Room, the Recovery Box, the Monitor Control Room, the Treatment Room and finally the Waiting Room where had the opportunity to speak with two child patients and their families.
Protonotherapy
External radiotherapy treatment represents a advanced, safe and effective alternative in the fight against some types of cancer, according to the center itself. The virtue of this treatment lies in the fact that it is capable of target the tumor, reducing the risk of damaging healthy tissue.
The equipment incorporates a tumor scanning system to help the doctor apply the most suitable dose in each area to be treated, and has the most advanced systems for taking images to control the positioning of the patient. Thanks to the rotation of the machine, the patient positioning system and the versatility of the movements of the robotic treatment table, the patient can receive the proton beam from any angle, which allows maximum precision in the treatment of tumors
With this therapy it is possible to treat many cases of cancer, especially brain tumors and those located along the spine. These are especially tumors close to vital organs that need to be preserved, such as those close to the brainstem, the optic pathway, the spinal cord, tumors of the head and neck area, pediatric tumors and recurrent cancers, including later eye tumors.
In this sense, this is especially useful in tumors requiring high doses to be controlled and are located near structures or organs that are very sensitive to radiation, or in pediatric tumors, since the organs are still developing and are even more sensitive, so it is even more important to be able to avoid irradiating said tissues.
Thus, thanks to the physical properties of protons, it is possible to accurately concentrate the radiation dose specified by radiation oncologists, thus achieving greater antitumor activity and less damage to adjacent healthy tissue. These types of techniques can produce small high-intensity beams that, by “painting” the tumor almost continuously, make things easier when making a distribution in space well adapted and adhere to the shape of the tumor.
The equipment installed at the QuirónSalud Proton Therapy Center, called Proteus One, is a unique and compact treatment system whose technology has been developed in Europe and brings together all the technology necessary for Proton Therapy in a cancer center in a single multifunctional room.