2097 - Development and Implementation of a Customized Medical Software Suite to Facilitate New Treatment Techniques for a Dual Particle Therapy Center
Presenter(s)
J. Hopfgartner1, P. Andrzejewski1, P. Roisl1, A. Ableitinger1, A. Carlino1, and M. Stock1,2; 1MedAustron Ion Therapy Centre, Wiener Neustadt, Austria, 2Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Krems an der Donau, Austria
Purpose/Objective(s): To report on the development and implementation procedures of the medical software suite (MSS) to facilitate new treatment techniques, improve current treatment quality and increase patient throughput in a dual particle treatment facility
Materials/Methods: Our center is a dual particle (protons and carbon ions) treatment and research facility operating since 2016 and is currently treating more than 500 patients per year. Since 2022, a custom-made MSS consisting of the Treatment Planning System (TPS) that was already in use, an Oncology Information System (OIS) and a Treatment Control System (TCS) is in place. The demand to facilitate in-house developed eye- and gated treatment solutions (both certified according to Medical Device Regulation (MDR)) required extensions to the MSS. Additionally, new functionalities to enhance the quality of already existing treatment techniques for abdominal and thoracic treatments such as high quality volumetric image registration needed to be developed. Furthermore, to further increase patient throughput, streamlined workflows involving all medical professions and quick and robust couch path planning and execution were necessary. The deployment of the MSS was constraint by a tight timeframe of three days (weekend + 1 day) in order to keep the particle therapy center at its full capacity.
Results: Product specifications started in early 2023 and first prototype testing commenced in end of 2023. Moreover, extensive tests of the deployment processes with the market released products were performed between June and September 2024 in order to comply with the time constraints and have a roadmap for a possible rollback at hand. Close feedback loops with the MSS provider were required to fulfil the time plan. Commissioning and training activities to familiarize individual users of all involved medical departments with the functionalities and workflows happened in parallel. The go-live of the enhanced MSS successfully happened in October 2024 as planned, requiring a performance boosting patch release that was deployed two weeks afterwards. The eye treatment program started in November 2024 and is being ramped up due to its favorable treatment quality. Gated treatments are now supported and will start according to plan in 2025.
Conclusion: By the implementation of the enhanced MSS in-house developed solution for eye- and gated treatments could be successfully integrated into the clinical workflows in a highly complex technological environment. The new functionality is routinely used and does not show any unfavorable effects on overall performance and stability.