July 9 2010  |  News Article 

More than 100 participants discuss the benefits of Oncentra Brachy in Valencia, Spain  

Valencia, Spain (7 July 2010) –Clinicians and medical physicists recently convened in Valencia, Spain for the first European Oncentra Brachy Best Practice Workshop. This event, attracting participants from Europe and further afield, provided an ideal forum for delegates to discuss and share insights on the innovations in the field of brachytherapy. This included key trends such as the evolution from 2D to 3D imaging and planning which are providing new standards of practice for HDR and PDR brachytherapy. Delegates also had the chance to discuss developments in Oncentra Brachy – a widely used treatment planning system for brachytherapy.

Oncentra Brachy was developed in the light of requirements for innovative technology solutions to address the needs of the radiotherapy department. Combining all the latest advancements in planning technology, Oncentra provides a reliable, user-friendly and flexible system which can create an optimal treatment plan for cancer patients in a matter of minutes.

Oncentra supersedes Nucletron’s benchmark brachytherapy treatment planning system, PLATO.  This leading edge system was the result of close collaboration between Nucletron and brachytherapy practitioners, and was developed with a focus on delivering a fast and efficient way to create patient treatment plans.

In addition to providing an opportunity to learn about and share insights around key developments in modern brachytherapy imaging, planning and clinical techniques, participants also had the chance to review the practical aspects of clinical implementation and use of Oncentra Brachy.  At the end of the meeting, workshop delegates reported that they were confident that the transition to Oncentra from PLATO would be seamless, and almost all PLATO users said that they would likely upgrade to the new system.

“It was a very useful, informative and well organized workshop,” said Stuart Dalgliesh, Radiotherapy Physicist at the Lincoln County Hospital in the UK. “It was a great opportunity to get the latest information on modern techniques, ask questions and get a broader perspective on brachytherapy treatments that we are currently not offering at our hospital.”

The William Buckland Radiotherapy Centre in Melbourne, Australia, recently made the switch from PLATO to Oncentra. “The changeover went very smoothly,” said Ryan Smith, Senior Medical Physicist. “It’s great to be using Oncentra each day which offers clear benefits over PLATO.”

Nucletron thanks the Scientific Committee for creating an informative and interesting programme, as well as the meeting delegates for their attendance and contribution during the workshop.  On the basis of feedback during the meeting, Nucletron is planning future similar events – details of forthcoming meetings will be posted on https://www.nucletron.com/events.  

About Nucletron
Nucletron provides state of the art radiotherapy solutions for cancer treatment that meet the evolving needs of patients, their caregivers and healthcare professionals around the world.  Nucletron has unmatched global leadership in brachytherapy, a very precise, highly effective and well-tolerated treatment option for healthcare providers, tailored to the needs of individual patients. We work with clinical teams to constantly improve and develop an innovative portfolio of integrated products, software and services that assures excellent patient outcomes.  Headquartered in Veenendaal, The Netherlands, Nucletron employs more than 500 employees, with offices in 15 countries, and products available in more than 100 countries around the world. 


About Oncentra
Oncentra Brachy represents an important step forward in treatment planning for brachytherapy. It is a comprehensive and user-friendly volume-based planning system that includes state-of-the-art optimization algorithms to ensure efficient treatment planning. Oncentra Brachy fits seamlessly into Nucletron’s solutions for imaging and treatment delivery. The system is the world’s first fully DICOM-compatible treatment planning solution for brachytherapy. It can be used as a stand-alone system, but can also be perfectly integrated into the Oncentra Dynamic Planning Environment,in combination with IMRT and proton planning. For more information on the switch from PLATO to Oncentra, please visit https://www.nucletron.com/PlatoToOncentra.