Clinical advantages of carbon-ion radiotherapy

Abstract

Carbon-ion radiotherapy(C-ion RT)possesses physical and biological advantages. It was started at NIRS in 1994 using the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba(HIMAC); since then more than 50 protocol studies have been conducted on almost 4000 patients with avariety of tumors. Clinical experriences have demonstrated that C-ion RT is effrctiver in such regions as the herd and neck, skull base, lung, liver, prostate, bone and sift tissues, and pelvic recurrence of rectal cancer, as well as for histological types including adenocarcinoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma, malignant melanoma and various typesof sarcomas, against which photon therapy could be less effective. Furthermore, when cimpared with photon and proton RT, a significant reduction of overall treatment time and fraction has been accomplished without enhancing toxicities. Currently, the number of irradiation sessions per patient averages 13 fractions spread over approximately three weeks. This means that in a carbon therapy facility a larger number of patients than is possible with other modalities can be treated over the same period of time.