US-based Varian Medical Systems will install its ProBeam proton therapy system at the new multi-room Holland Particle Therapy Centre (HollandPTC) in Delft, Netherlands.

HollandPTC is part of Medical Delta, which is the medical-technological collaboration of the universities and university medical centers of Leiden, Delft and Rotterdam.

Once completed, the center will include two proton therapy treatment rooms with full rotational gantries, in addition to the facilities for fixed-beam eye treatments and research.

The installation of equipment at the center is expected to complete in mid-2016 while patient treatments are slated to commence in the second half of 2017.

Varian’s particle therapy business managing director Moataz Karmalawy said: "We are pleased to be selected to supply our ProBeam system for this prestigious project.

"As well as offering pencil-beam scanning, the most advanced form of proton therapy, HollandPTC will be a key research site feeding into a national program to study the efficacy of protons."

Varian’s ProBeam system with dynamic peak scanning will provide high-speed intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) that is claimed to be most precise form of proton therapy available.

Proton therapy is used to treat certain types of cancer more precisely with fewer side effects compared to conventional radiation therapy.

Varian said that its ProBeam technology is being used to treat patients at the Scripps Proton Therapy Center in San Diego, US; Rinecker Proton Therapy Center in Munich,Germany; and Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland.