My First ESTRO with Leo Cancer Care: A Shift in Perspective

Walking into ESTRO for the first time as a Leo Cancer Care employee, I thought I knew what to expect.

Having spent much of my career in the conventional, supine radiotherapy world at a large industry player, I arrived with a certain set of assumptions. Leo, from the outside, can appear to be one of the smaller vendors in the exhibition hall, a company championing a new idea and hoping the market will eventually embrace it.
After attending ESTRO, spending three full days on the exhibition floor, and sitting in on several ESTRO presentations, I quickly realized how wrong that assumption was.

A Movement Already Underway

One of the biggest surprises came during the annual Upright Radiotherapy Research Consortium meeting.
Before joining Leo, I might have assumed that upright radiotherapy was still largely a theoretical concept, waiting for wider adoption. Instead, I discovered a global community of clinicians, researchers, and innovators who are already actively exploring upright patient positioning.
Some centres have gone remarkably far in their efforts. I heard stories of teams building their own positioning chairs and modifying existing treatment systems by turning gantries horizontally to investigate upright treatment delivery. These aren’t people waiting to see what happens next, they are pioneers actively pushing the boundaries of what radiotherapy could become.
It became clear that upright radiotherapy isn’t an idea searching for a problem. It’s a solution that many forward-thinking professionals have already recognized as worth pursuing.

The Busiest “Small Booth” I’ve Ever Seen

If there was any remaining doubt about the level of interest, it disappeared the moment the exhibition opened. Our booth was busy, constantly busy.
Throughout all three days, visitors queued for demonstrations of the Marie® upright patient positioning system. The team spent virtually every minute positioning customers, answering questions, and running demonstrations. Finding time for a quick drink became a challenge.
What struck me most was the persistence of the interest. On Monday, even after the exhibition hall had officially closed at 5pm, people were still arriving and asking if they could experience positioning on the system. For a technology that some still consider “emerging,” the level of engagement was extraordinary.

The Demonstration Everyone Remembered

Among all the sophisticated technology on display, one of the most effective demonstrations was also one of the simplest.
Leo’s own Rock Mackie, brought along two jars filled with oil and strawberry jam, chosen to mimic the consistency and behaviour of internal organs such as the liver.
The concept was brilliantly straightforward. Tilt the jars from an upright position to a supine position and watch how long it takes the contents to move and settle into their new orientation. As attendees watched, the implications became obvious.
If something as simple as gravity can change the position of soft tissues and organs, what does that mean for patient anatomy during treatment? For many visitors, you could almost see the moment when the penny dropped.
Sometimes the most powerful demonstrations are the ones that make a complex concept instantly understandable.

The ESTRO Session That Filled the Room

I attended three scientific talks during the congress.
Two took place in large auditoriums with relatively modest audiences and varying levels of engagement. They were interesting presentations, but the atmosphere was fairly typical for a large scientific meeting.
The third was different.
The session was a debate exploring whether upright positioning could become the mainstream method of delivering radiotherapy treatments by 2035. The room was packed. Every seat seemed occupied, and the audience was fully engaged throughout both the debate and the discussion that followed. Questions came from all directions. Opinions were shared passionately. The energy in the room was unmistakable.

A Changed Perspective

I arrived at ESTRO expecting to spend three days explaining a niche concept to curious visitors. Instead, I found myself witnessing something very different.
I saw a growing international community already experimenting with upright workflows. I watched healthcare professionals wait in line just to experience the technology firsthand. I listened to packed conference sessions debating the future of upright treatment delivery.
Most importantly, I realised that upright radiotherapy is no longer simply an idea being proposed to the industry.
It’s a movement that is already underway.
And after my first ESTRO with Leo Cancer Care, I’m excited to be part of it.