The fourth annual Proton Practicum began at the Apollo Proton Cancer Centre (APCC) here on Friday.
Over 700 participants, including radiation oncologists and medical physicists from India and abroad, attended the conference. The theme of the practicum is ‘improving survival and survivorship in paediatric and central nervous system (CNS) tumours with proton beam therapy’.
Rakesh Jalali, Medical Director and Head of Radiation Oncology, APCC, said the academic event for clinicians would help them learn from experts, and the doctors would also interact with patients on social media platforms during the event. “The more we do, the more we learn. It is a continuum of the learning process for the benefit of patients,” Dr. Jalali, who is also the course director of the practicum, said.
Harshad Reddy, Director, APCC, said the diversity of the practicum’s participants would ensure comprehensive understanding of global practices in patient selection, clinical workflow, and planning for proton beam therapy.
The practicum will include talks by over 30 radiation oncologists and medical physicists from across the world besides practical demonstrations to showcase the strength and versatility of proton therapy technology for various paediatric cancers and CNS tumours.
Minesh Mehta, Deputy Director and Chief of Radiation Oncology at the Miami Cancer Institute, Baptist Health South Florida, will deliver the Dr. Pratap C. Reddy Proton Oration.
Preetha Reddy, Executive Vice-chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Group, said the challenge was to provide access to people who need it. APCC provided the best-in-care treatment at a tenth of the cost of other places. Apollo Hospitals is committed to catching the disease early, treating it, and making people disease-free, she added, and praised the institution for doing well in focusing on treating paediatric cancers.
