Medical Center of Utrecht University
Personalized cancer care is one of 6 focus areas defined in the strategy of the UMCU. The imaging division, where the iPACT project activities take place integrates Radiology and Radiation Oncology functions of the UMCU. The UMCU invests heavily in Image-guided therapies, which includes construction of the worlds’ first high-field MR-guided linac, as well as a suite for MR-guided brachytherapy, and image-guided internal radiation therapy. The UMCU has extensive experience in the field of MR-guided HIFU, and in addition to a dedicated MR-HIFU suite, a facility for acoustics development and testing is available. Through a fruitful collaboration with Philips, HIFU platforms are available for pelvis, liver as well as the breast applications. On site, a rich technological ecosystem is present, with MR-physicists, biomedical engineers, and image processing experts.
The UMCU is one of the national centres for treatment of pancreas cancer. The radiation oncology department provides the clinical expertise, and sees over 200 pancreas carcinoma patients per year. This will allow the UMCU sufficient access to patients for the clinical translational tasks described in WP5. The hospital is currently participating in a Dutch clinical trial on preoperative radio-chemotherapy (PREOPANC). In addition, the radiation oncology department has IRB approval for, and is currently conducting preparatory imaging studies in the related context of image guided external beam radiation therapy of the pancreas, viz. METC(IRB) 11-497, METC 12-126. The presence of the GDL, the Utrecht University test animal facility, ensures large animal trials can successfully be performed.