Development of Compact Proton Beam Therapy System for Moving Organs

Masumi Umezawa Futaro Ebina Yusuke Fujii Koji Matsuda Kazuo Hiramoto Kikuo Umegaki, Ph.D. Hiroki Shirato, M.D., Ph.D. OVERVIEW: The use of particle beams in treating cancer, both in Japan and overseas, is growing in recognition of their ability to precisely target the dose of radiation on the cancerous tumor while minimizing the impact on surrounding organs. In particular, it is anticipated that particle therapy using scanning irradiation will become mainstream in the future. Having led the world in the commercialization of this form of treatment, Hitachi has also been working on the development of compact particle therapy systems that have been designed specifically to use this method. In 2009, as part of the “Advanced Radiation Therapy Project Real-time Tumor-tracking with Molecular Imaging Technique” funded by the FIRST Program as a national project launched in partnership with Hokkaido University, Hitachi jointly developed and commercialized a scanning irradiation technique that can track moving organs, and that incorporated a tumor-tracking radiotherapy system developed by Hokkaido University. Hitachi intends to utilize these new technical developments to help encourage the wider adoption of particle therapy.