title: New accelerator facility for carbon-ion cancer-therapy.
abstract: The first clinical trial with carbon beams generated from HIMAC was conducted in June 1994. The total number of patients treated as of December 2006 was in excess of 3,000. In view of the significant growth in the number of protocols, the Japanese government gave its approval for carbon-ion therapy at NIRS as an advanced medical technology in 2003. The impressive advances of carbon-ion therapy using HIMAC have been supported by high-reliability operation and by advanced developments of beam-delivery and accelerator technologies. Based on our ten years of experience with HIMAC, we recently proposed a new accelerator facility for cancer therapy with carbon ions for widespread use in Japan. The key technologies of the accelerator and beam-delivery systems for this proposed facility have been under development since April 2004, with the main thrust being focused on downsizing the facility for cost reduction. Based on the design and R&D studies for the proposed facility, its construction was begun at Gunma University in April 2006. In addition, our future plans for HIMAC also include the design of a new treatment facility. The design work has already been initiated, and will lead to the further development of therapy using HIMAC. The following descriptions give a summary account of the new accelerator facility for cancer therapy with carbon ions and of the new treatment facility at HIMAC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Accelerator and Medical Physics, National Institute of Radiological Sciences.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: Takuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.forename: Tatsuaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanai
authors.forename: Mitsutaka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanazawa
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kitagawa
authors.forename: Masataka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Komori
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Minohara
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takei
authors.forename: Mutsumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tashiro
authors.forename: Masami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Torikoshi
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yusa
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004867:Equipment Design; D063193:Heavy Ion Radiotherapy; D020450:Heavy Ions; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon