Application of plasma simulation and theory to heavy ion cancer therapy

Cancer therapy using heavy ions is more body-friendly than treatments using any other types of radiation, such as x-rays or protons, because the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of heavy ions is higher; that is, smaller dose is required with this therapy. However, it is still unclear why heavy ions have higher RBE. To clarify the reason why heavy ions have higher RBE values, we have studied physical phenomena produced by heavy ion irradiation using simulations and theory obtained from the field of plasma physics. Using the simulation results, we propose a new radial dose distribution. The radial dose has been used in treatment planning systems for heavy ion beam cancer therapy.CCP (Conference on Computational Physics )202