Abstract
This is an introductory report about Proton Medical Research Center (PMRC). PMRC was established about 15 years ago to push researches relating to proton therapy in Japan. PMRC uses the 250-MeV protons to treat patients, obtained by degrading the 500-MeV protons from the booster synchrotron of the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK). Patients over 500 have been treated with proton beams in the period of about 15 years at PMRC. The clinical results at PMRC show that high energetic proton beam is very useful to cure various types of tumors, not only the deep seated (especially HCC) but also the superficial. To treat tumors in the abdominal region which change those positions with respiration, new technical methods have been developed, which are synchronized respiration irradiation method, an iridium needle insertion method to verify the tumor position in a body by real-time x-ray imaging, and so on. In this paper, series of operation process routinized at PMRC from acquisition of X-CT image for the treatment planning to proton beam irradiation were introduced.
Construction of new medically delicated proton facility, the University of Tsukuba started at the beginning of this fiscal year. An accelerator and its power supply are furnished this year.
