Proton radiotherapy with the Uppsala cyclotron. Experience and plans

From 1957 to 1968, the 230-cm synchrocyclotron at the Gustaf Werner Institute was used for clinical tests with a 185 MeV proton beam. The radiotherapeutic research was part of an extensive research programme in physics, chemistry, biology and medicine. Only a small series of patients were treated. A brief review of the early development and clinical experience of the cyclotron activities at Uppsala from 1957 to 1968 is given. The former accelerator is now being converted. Beams are expected to be available in the new radiotherapy treatment rooms in 1986. Plans for the new facilities with special reference to alternative methods of proton acceleration and beam transport, i.e. fixed beams or an gantry system are presented. The corresponding activities at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP) in Moscow are also referred to thanks to a bilateral research programme which has existed in the past and from which the Uppsala group has benefited greatly.