A proton beam treats ventricular arrhythmia, world premiere

For the first time in the world, a patient with ventricular arrhythmia was treated with a proton beam that targeted, with a very reduced impact on the delicate surrounding tissues, the part of the heart responsible for irregular heartbeats. The intervention, developed in collaboration with the Irccs Policlinico San Matteo Foundation, was performed at the Cnao of Pavia.
Cnao is the National Center of Oncological Hadrontherapy, one of the 6 structures in the world equipped with accelerators capable of generating beams of protons and carbon ions, generally used for the treatment of radio-resistant and non-operable tumors.
"The choice to use hadron therapy with protons, an advanced form of radiation therapy for the treatment of tumors, for the treatment of cardiac pathology - reads a statement from Cnao and San Matteo - was born from the need to combat a particularly aggressive form of ventricular arrhythmia that had not responded effectively to both traditional and more advanced treatments (multiple drugs, invasive radiofrequency ablation and thoracic surgery on the cardiac nervous system) and which caused continuous and dangerous alterations of the heart rhythm in the patient ".
The 73-year-old patient suffering from a severe form of dilated cardiomyopathy had been transferred to Pavia from a Milanese hospital where he was hospitalized for ventricular arrhythmias and repeated cardiac arrests. After the operation he was kept under close monitoring at San Matteo: a few days ago he was discharged from Cardiology in good general conditions, in good cardiocirculatory compensation and it was possible to transfer him to a rehabilitation department. "In this particularly serious case, a different intervention was necessary - underlines Roberto Rordorf, head of the Arrhythmology Unit of the Cardiology of the Policlinico San Matteo, directed by Luigi Oltrona Visconti -. Although phototherapy radiotherapy has already been used albeit experimentally and in rare cases to treat some forms of arrhythmia, this time it was chosen to proceed with protons which guarantee a much lower impact on the surrounding delicate tissues. Pavia's intervention is the first in the world on humans and the first results are really encouraging.
For this reason, together with the CNAO we are evaluating the feasibility of an experimental clinical study ".
"For CNAO this is a completely new way - adds Gianluca Vago, president of the National Center of Oncological Hadrontherapy -, but which confirms the extraordinary potential of this form of radiotherapy even outside its application in the oncological field, a vocation for our center was born, and the spirit of full collaboration with the world of Italian and international care that animates it ".