Leading technological innovation
ICO already counts on 10 linear accelerators, which means we have the highest number of technological facilities for cancer treatment in all the State and one of the highest in South Europe. As a result, ICO treated more than 5,000 patients last year.
- ICO l’Hospitalet – Duran i Reynals Hospital: 5 linear accelerators
- ICO Girona – Doctor Josep Trueta Hospital: 2 linear accelerators; the newest one was installed last July and it is still in a testing period.
- ICO Badalona – Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital: counts on 3 linear accelerators, one of which was installed last year and it features technologic advantages that allow us to carry out techniques with IMRT.

More accurateness, better guarantee
Currently, one of the most important challenges in radiation therapy is to avoid variations of the patient’s position which may imply that radiation is not applied exactly in the area to be treated. This is especially relevant when we are working with very high doses and very small tumours or very near vital organs, such as prostate cancer, and brain or neck ones, very close to the spinal cord, among others.
The new linear accelerator allows us to carry out treatments guided by images, with techniques of intensity modulation which nowadays are not done in any other hospital in Catalonia (whether public or private).
Moreover, this new device has an accessory which allows the synchronization of the patient’s breathing movements with the emission of the radiation beam, and monitors and compensates the movements of the tumour during radiation. This is extremely important in the treatment of small lung tumours which require high precission treatments, but it is also appliable to tumours in the digestive system, subject to movement during the treatment, due to the patient’s breathing.
Therefore, the treatment with radiation therapy with the new linear accelerator will be offered to the patients with tumours located in complex anatomic areas or near organs with an elevated risk of side-effects.

Improvements in radiation therapy
Radiation therapy has improved substancially in the last few decades. Catalonia has paid attention to these changes and has been keeping up to date, so the best quality treatment in radiation therapy could be offered to Catalan patients. These changes in the radiation therapy can be summarized in the following steps:
The progressive change of the Cobalt 60 units for the linear accelerators, which are more versatile and exact units for cancer treatment. Nowadays, all the former Cobalt 60 units at ICO have been eliminated.
The use of planification systems for radiation therapy in 3 Dimensions, much more reliable and exact.
The introduction of new treatment techniques which allow a significant reduction of the side effects for Catalan patients.
The use of more sophisticated and accurate tools for the definition of the bumps that are treated with external radiation therapy or brachy-therapy: such as TAC, RMN, the PET-TAC or the images fusion, among others.

The presentation of this new equipment of radiation therapy at ICO in Hospitalet, featured the ‘consellera’ of Health, Ms. Marina Geli, and the mayor of Hospitalet, Mr. Celestino Corbacho. Both of them pointed out the clear improvements in oncology assistance which the Institut Català d’Oncologia has been introducing, with the aim to be a first-rate centre in cancer treatment. The ‘consellera’, Marina Geli, wanted to emphasize the fact that with this new linear accelerator, ICO becomes the centre with the highest concentration of radiation therapy equipments in all the State, and of the whole of the Mediterranean area.