Neutron radiation therapy with the harper hospital superconducting cyclotron: six years operating experience

摘要

The last three years has seen a significant increase in the number of patients treated with neutron therapy at the Gershenson Radiation Oncology Center. In the sixth year of operation (March 1997 -February 1998) 223 patients were treated with 9085 fields in 2198 fractions, an approximately 25% increase in the number of fields compared with the previous year. In spite of the increased patient load the cyclotron has maintained a five day (50-55 hour/week) clinical schedule with 6.8% downtime. The relatively high number of fields per fraction (4.1) reflects the fact that most patients are treated with complex conformal irradiation techniques. Approximately 75-80% of the patients treated to data have been prostate cancer cases. Our results in this group of patients lead us to conclude that mixed neutron/photon irradiation is the radiation treatment of choice for these patients. Furthermore such treatment can be shown to be cost effective in comparison with conventional x ray therapy. Details of accelerator performance and strategies for further improving efficiency which will result in greater cost effectiveness are discussed.