As of today, about 55'000 patients around the world have been treated with protons and heavier charged particles at 28 treatment centers.
There are currently 10 hospital-based proton therapy centers in operation around the world and 15 more are being built or are near completion.
There are a number of suggestions for setting up such centers in all industrialized countries, so we can assume that proton therapy will be widespread in the future.
The first proton therapy center in Western Europe has been in operation at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Villigen, in Switzerland, since 1984.
By the middle of 2008, more than 5’000 patients with eye tumours have been treated with protons there. The PSI also has the world's only gantry so far that is equipped with so-called spot-scanning-technology (see Fig. 5). The PSI is also the only center in the world that has experience with intensity modulated proton therapy. In 1999 the first patient with a chordoma of the spine has been treated with this method at the PSI. A new advanced spot scanning gantry (Gantry2) is currently being set-up at PSI. This new type of Gantry is intended to be utilized in the four treatment rooms at the PTC Zürichobersee.
Further information about proton therapy at PSI is available via the following linkhere.
The following lists show sites and projects which are in clinical operation, in construction or planned.