11 Application of Accelerators and Storage Rings
721
In 1954, the first patient was treated at Berkeley with protons, followed by helium
treatment in 1957 and by neon ions in 1975 [73]. In these treatments—as in most
of the following facilities—the beam was distributed over the target volume using
‘passive’ shaping systems, like scatterers, compensators, and collimators that were
adapted from the conventional photon therapy. The first treatments consisted of
irradiation to stop of the pituitary gland from producing hormones that stimulated
some cancer cells to grow. Between 1954 and 1957 at Berkeley, under the leadership
of Cornelius Tobias, 30 pituitary glands and pituitary tumours were treated with
protons [74].
In 1957 the first tumour was irradiated with protons at the Uppsala cyclotron
by Börje Larsson [75], but the facility that made the largest impact on the
development of proton therapy is certainly the 160 MeV Harvard cyclotron, which
was commissioned in 1949 (Fig. 11.25).
The Harvard staff got interested in using protons for medical treatments only after
proton therapy was started at both, LBL and Uppsala. In 1961, Raymond Kjellberg,
a young neurosurgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, was the first to
use the Harvard beam to treat a malignant brain tumour.
The results obtained for eye melanoma—by Ian Constable and Evangelos
Gragoudas of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital—and for chordomas and
chondosarcomas of the base of the skull [76]—by Herman Suit, Michael Goitein and
colleagues of the Radiation Medicine Dept of Massachusetts General Hospital—
convinced many radiation oncologists of the superiority of protons to X rays in
particularly for tumours that are close to organs at risk. In 2002, when the cyclotron
was definitely stopped, more than 9000 patients had been irradiated and the bases
were put in place for the following development of the field. The competences
developed in Boston were soon transferred to the new hospital-based facility of
the Massachusetts General Hospital, now called “Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy
Fig. 11.25 Picture of the just
completed Harvard cyclotron.
Many years later Norman
Ramsey was awarded the
Nobel prize, together with
Wolfang Paul
721
In 1954, the first patient was treated at Berkeley with protons, followed by helium
treatment in 1957 and by neon ions in 1975 [73]. In these treatments—as in most
of the following facilities—the beam was distributed over the target volume using
‘passive’ shaping systems, like scatterers, compensators, and collimators that were
adapted from the conventional photon therapy. The first treatments consisted of
irradiation to stop of the pituitary gland from producing hormones that stimulated
some cancer cells to grow. Between 1954 and 1957 at Berkeley, under the leadership
of Cornelius Tobias, 30 pituitary glands and pituitary tumours were treated with
protons [74].
In 1957 the first tumour was irradiated with protons at the Uppsala cyclotron
by Börje Larsson [75], but the facility that made the largest impact on the
development of proton therapy is certainly the 160 MeV Harvard cyclotron, which
was commissioned in 1949 (Fig. 11.25).
The Harvard staff got interested in using protons for medical treatments only after
proton therapy was started at both, LBL and Uppsala. In 1961, Raymond Kjellberg,
a young neurosurgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, was the first to
use the Harvard beam to treat a malignant brain tumour.
The results obtained for eye melanoma—by Ian Constable and Evangelos
Gragoudas of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Hospital—and for chordomas and
chondosarcomas of the base of the skull [76]—by Herman Suit, Michael Goitein and
colleagues of the Radiation Medicine Dept of Massachusetts General Hospital—
convinced many radiation oncologists of the superiority of protons to X rays in
particularly for tumours that are close to organs at risk. In 2002, when the cyclotron
was definitely stopped, more than 9000 patients had been irradiated and the bases
were put in place for the following development of the field. The competences
developed in Boston were soon transferred to the new hospital-based facility of
the Massachusetts General Hospital, now called “Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy
Fig. 11.25 Picture of the just
completed Harvard cyclotron.
Many years later Norman
Ramsey was awarded the
Nobel prize, together with
Wolfang Paul