State-of-the-art equipment

To offer its patients personalized precision medicine and ever more effective therapies, Institut Curie continually invests in cutting-edge equipment. From diagnosis and treatment to research into innovative therapies, the very best technology is dedicated to the fight against cancer.

Detection: a state-of-the-art diagnostic scanner

At the cutting edge of tumor characterization diagnostics, Institut Curie is equipped with a dual-source spectral scanner. This latest-generation scanner enables rapid acquisition of high-definition images for vascular exploration and tumor contrast; it improves cancer detection, particularly for ear, nose and throat (ENT) and certain digestive cancers (pancreatic) and facilitates bone marrow analysis. Its rapid image acquisition also reduces the impact of patient cardio-respiratory movements on image quality. Other notable benefits for patient quality of life include optimized exposure to ionizing radiation and reduced doses of contrast media administered to patients.

Digital pathology

Since 2021, and thanks to a partnership, Institut Curie's anatomopathology department has been able to digitize its biopsy slides. This technological breakthrough enables seamless information sharing between doctors, with image analysis and artificial intelligence tools providing real time savings and improved accuracy of diagnosis and patient care.

A high-tech operating theatre

Institut Curie's operating theater covers 2,700 m2 and 11 rooms. Fully integrated, with vast, light-filled premises, it combines all areas of surgical activity, facilitating a smooth patient flow and enhanced comfort for both patients and caregivers. The latest-generation equipment ensures state-of-the-art care to increase the precision of treatment while reducing after-effects and improving quality of life.

Radiotherapy: state-of-the-art equipment and techniques

With the acquisition of a new 12th particle gas pedal, the Linac MRI, Institut Curie has moved into the field of adaptive radiotherapy. This particle gas pedal, coupled with a high-magnetic-field MRI, facilitates organ visualization, and monitors tumor evolution in real time, as well as the patient's respiratory movements, particularly when they are on the radiotherapy table. The device takes these different parameters into account and adjusts the radiation dose delivered to preserve surrounding healthy tissue as much as possible. This very fine, intensive targeting of the area to be irradiated preserves the surrounding organs and reduces the most undesirable side effects. Abdominal and pelvic cancers are the first to benefit. Another significant advantage is the number of radiotherapy sessions required to eliminate the tumor: treatments are delivered in one to six sessions over one to two weeks, compared with one session every day of the week for five to eight weeks for a classic radiotherapy treatment. All these advantages help to preserve the patient's quality of life.

Internal vectorized radiotherapy (IVR)

IVR - or metabolic radiotherapy - is a nuclear medicine technology based on the oral or intravenous administration of a drug capable of targeting cancer cells, which are then irradiated by the associated radioactive element. This targeting also spares healthy tissue.
Institut Curie has invested heavily in IVR, notably for the treatment of prostate and thyroid cancers, for which its efficacy has been particularly proven. With four dedicated lead chambers - 2 for Iodine-131 and 2 for Lutetium - it will be fully integrated into routine activity at the Saint-Cloud site. IVR will also be the subject of clinical trials in collaboration with industrial partners, notably for certain types of breast, prostate, pancreatic and colon cancer. Translational research will also be carried out by Institut Curie teams.

The CellAction cell therapy platform

Cell and gene therapies - including CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor) cells - are at the heart of CellAction (Cell therapy Acceleration and Innovation), the brand-new Paris-Saclay Cancer Cluster (PSCC) platform at Institut Curie. These extremely promising new forms of immunotherapy, which have gained momentum over the last ten years, are already part of the therapeutic arsenal against certain hematological cancers. The ambition now is to design optimized cell and gene therapy strategies that are more effective, less complex to manufacture and more widely indicated, particularly for solid tumors. This is the aim of CellAction. Unprecedented in France, this integrated, high-performance facility brings together highly qualified scientific, clinical and technical expertise, as well as cutting-edge equipment, in a single location. This enables us to implement and monitor all types of projects: target discovery and validation, cellular engineering, in vitro and in vivo proof-of-concept, preclinical research... right through to a ready-to-manufacture product.