Insel Gruppe AG

The Insel Gruppe AG (Bern, Switzerland) comprises six hospitals, including the Inselspital Bern University Hospital (BERN) that will be involved in STOPSTORM and is associated with the University of Bern. As of 2020, the hospital employs a staff of 10,847 from 95 nations and provides care for around 900,000 patients each year. In addition, practical training is provided to 600 medical students and over 1,000 healthcare professionals.

The Department of Cardiology at BERN is the largest in Switzerland. The department, directed by Prof. Stephan Windecker, has an excellent track record in the conduction of clinical studies. The Centre for Arrhythmias and Electrophysiology, directed by Prof. Tobias Reichlin, is the largest in Switzerland and performs approximately 900 cardiac ablation procedures and 700 device procedures annually. In addition to the clinical arrhythmia service, there is a large team of basic and translations scientists working in the field of cardiac electrophysiology in the Department of Physiology, as well as in the Swiss Institute of Technology and Entrepreneurship in Medicine (SITEM).

The Department of Radiation Oncology is one of the largest radiation oncology departments in Switzerland. It is headed by Prof. Daniel Aebersold and is strongly involved in preclinical, translational and clinical research, as well as in the technological developments in the area of medical physics. One of the strongest clinical and technical focus is the conduction of high precision radiotherapy treatments such as radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy with the use of the CyberKnife system.

In a close collaboration between the Departments of Cardiology and Radiation Oncology, the first patients with VT-ablation have been treated with radiotherapy in the year 2019.