Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe

Valencia, Spain

Hospital La Fe is a University Hospital widely recognized throughout Spain for the quality of its treatments and its status as an international reference center in transplantation.

Collaboration between the Head of the Radiophysics Service and the Head of the Department of Atomic and Nuclear Physics at the University of Valencia has resulted in international recognition, particularly through the invention of the Valencia brachytherapy applicator and the development of MRI-compatible dummies for cervical brachytherapy.

After more than 40 years of clinical activity, the hospital relocated 15 years ago to modern facilities that almost doubled its previous capacity. The current infrastructure exceeds 260,000 m², enabling the implementation of the most advanced radiotherapy techniques using state-of-the-art technology.

Radiation Oncology Department

1. Treatment Equipment

External Radiotherapy

The department is equipped with three advanced linear accelerators from Varian, enabling the full spectrum of modern external beam radiotherapy:

1 Halcyon
- High-throughput platform optimized for IMRT and VMAT
- Integrated IGRT and streamlined clinical workflows
2 TrueBeam (X-rays with and without flattening filter, OBI, and RapidArc, electrons)
- One system with HD MLC, 6D couch
- One system with Millennium MLC and 6D couch

These systems allow the delivery of IMRT, VMAT, SRS, SBRT, and advanced adaptive and image-guided treatments.

Brachytherapy

HDR brachytherapy system: Flexitron HDR from Elekta
MRI-guided HDR cervical brachytherapy
Prostate brachytherapy:
- HDR and permanent seed implants using BXTA seeds
- High clinical workload: approximately 3 HDR and 3 seed implants per week
Ocular brachytherapy:
- COMS plaques
- Ruthenium plaques
- Strontium-90 applicators

2. Image Guidance, Motion Management and Surface Guidance

A comprehensive image guidance and motion management strategy is implemented across all treatment units:

4D imaging (RGS) available on CT, PET-CT, and TrueBeam
Respiratory gating and tumor tracking on TrueBeam
ExacTrac Dynamic on the HD TrueBeam for high-precision intracranial and extracranial treatments
Surface Guided Radiation Therapy (SGRT) by Vision RT available on all three linacs

This integrated approach ensures high geometric accuracy and optimal motion control for complex treatments.

3. Imaging Systems (CT / PET-CT)

CT simulator: SOMATOM go.Open Pro from Siemens
PET-CT scanner: from Philips (At the Nuclear Medicine department)
Patient positioning laser system: LAP

4. Special Treatment Techniques

Total Body Irradiation (TBI)
Intraoperative radiotherapy with electrons with LIAC accelerator

5. Treatment Planning Systems

Eclipse Treatment Planning System, version 18

Medical Physics and Staff Expertise

The medical physics team is highly recognized at both national and international levels within the Spanish radiophysics community.

The Head of the Radiophysics Department has:

Delivered over 90 presentations at national congresses and 90 at international congresses
Participated in 30 scientific meetings, conferences, and training courses
Contributed to 8 research projects
Published 60 peer-reviewed scientific articles

She has also held and currently holds several leadership and advisory roles within the Spanish Society of Medical Physics (SEFM), including:

Editor of the Revista de Física Médica (2012–2016)
Co-coordinator of the SEFM Working Group on Quality Control of Medical Linear Accelerators (2007–2009)
Member of the SEFM Working Group on Adaptive Radiotherapy (2018–2020)
Coordinator of the SEFM Working Group on Quality Control of Linear Accelerators (2020–2024)
President of the Deontological, Institutional and Bioethics Commission of the SEFM (2020–2025)
Current member of the Deontological, Institutional and Bioethics Commission of the SEFM

Quality Assurance and Dosimetry Equipment

The hospital is equipped with an extensive set of quality assurance tools from PTW, supporting comprehensive dosimetric verification:

TBA Analyzer MP3
MEPHYSTO mc² BeamScan with BeamScan software
TRUFIX detector positioning system
LA48 linear chamber array
OCTAVIUS Detector 729, 1500, and 1600 SRS
OCTAVIUS 4D
MP1 system for absolute dosimetry
Electrometers: UNIDOS Webline, UNIDOS, VIVODOS, MULTIDOS
QUICKCHECK Webline (×3)
STARCHECK and STARCHECK Maxi
In-vivo dosimetry systems (VIVODOS and MULTIDOS)
Dosimetry diodes
Ionization chambers (PinPoint 3D, Roos, PTW Farmer, Semiflex, etc.)
RW3 phantom
DIAMOND software suite: VeriQA RT, RT Monte Carlo, and RTEpid (implementation planned for 2026)

Contact

Dr. Françoise Lliso
Head of the Radiophysics Section at the Radiotherapy Department

Email: lliso_fra@gva.es

Tel.: +34 96 124 5103