Proton beam therapy in Europe: more centres need more research

Proton beam therapy was applied for the first time in Europe over half a century ago by Börje Larsson, who, in 1957, used the cyclotron of the Gustaf Werner Institute in Uppsala, Sweden, to target a cervical cancer with a high-energy beam of protons. 1 More centres for proton beam therapy have subsequently been built in Europe since the 1990s. According to the particle therapy co-operative group (PTCOG; available online at www.ptcog.ch ), the number of particle therapy facilities in operation in Europe is forecast to increase from the current figure of 21 (as of April 2018) to 45 by 2023.