Current Status and Future Prospects for Carbon Ion Therapy World-wide

Carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) is a unique radiotherapy, which possesses well localized, and superior depth dose distribution in addition to less repairable radiobiological effects. The use of CIRT for various diseases has been explored as clinical trials at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC), Japan. Since 1994, when the first clinical study of cancer therapy with carbon ion beams was started, about 50 clinical studies have been completed safely and effectively. These studies revealed that intractable cancers such as inoperable bone and soft tissue sarcomas can be cured and so can be cancers in the head and neck, lung, liver, pancreas, prostate, and postoperative pelvic recurrence of rectal cancer in a safe manner in a shorter overall treatment time. The number of patients receiving CIRT has reached 6,500 and the therapy was approved as a highly advanced medical technology in 2003. Based on these experiences, we embarked on the research and development of a new generation beam delivery facilities such as a 3D-scanning method with a pensil beam and a compact rotating gantry. A clinical research using the pensil beam scanning was in operation since May 2011.New Frontiers in Cancer Treatmen