Protontherapy of eye tumours in the UK: a review of treatment at Clatterbridge.

The Scanditronix MC-60 PF cyclotron at Clatterbridge was commissioned in 1984 for fast neutrontherapy trials. It also produced a 60.0 MeV clinical beam suitable for treating ocular tumours with a maximum penetration of 31 mm (water) and a 0.9 mm fall-off. An additional treatment room was built with an ocular beamline constructed in-house. The first group of eye patients was treated in June 1989, making this the first hospital-based proton facility. More than 1700 eye patients have been treated by the only UK proton service.

[PET in Aarhus: the origins of a laboratory]. / PET i Arhus: et laboratoriums tilblivelse.

Recent medical history is a new trend among medical historians. The new focus on late developments of note to health care providers has inspired me to relate certain personal events related to the establishment of a laboratory of positron emission tomography in a remote city of a small country far away. The record may be appropriate because the laboratory celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2003. The laboratory is the home of an advanced technology with special needs in terms of space, installations and staff. The technology rests on a combination of random discoveries and goal-directed inventions that include the discovery of positrons, the invention of the cyclotron, the development of computerized analysis of huge data sets, insight into the biochemistry of organs and the quest for understanding of the pathology of specific diseases. U.S. researchers played unique roles in the three former areas, while Danish researchers made important contributions to the latter two areas.

Biomedical applications of accelerator mass spectrometry-isotope measurements at the level of the atom.

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a nuclear physics technique developed about twenty years ago, that uses the high energy (several MeV) of a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator to measure very small quantities of rare and long-lived isotopes. Elements that are of interest in biomedicine and environmental sciences can be measured, often to parts per quadrillion sensitivity, i.e. zeptomole to attomole levels (10(-21)-10(-18) mole) from milligram samples. This is several orders of magnitude lower than that achievable by conventional decay counting techniques, such as liquid scintillation counting (LSC). AMS was first applied to geochemical, climatological and archaeological areas, such as for radiocarbon dating (Shroud of Turin), but more recently this technology has been used for bioanalytical applications. In this sphere, most work has been conducted using aluminium, calcium and carbon isotopes. The latter is of special interest in drug metabolism studies, where a Phase 1 adsorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) study can be conducted using only 10 nanoCurie (37 Bq or ca. 0.9 microSv) amounts or less of 14C-labelled drugs. In the UK, these amounts of radioactivity are below those necessary to request specific regulatory approval from the Department of Health's Administration of Radioactive Substances Advisory Committee (ARSAC), thus saving on valuable development time and resources. In addition, the disposal of these amounts is much less an environmental issue than that associated with microCurie quantities, which are currently used. Also, AMS should bring an opportunity to conduct "first into man" studies without the need for widespread use of animals. Centre for Biomedical Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CBAMS) Ltd. is the first fully commercial company in the world to offer analytical services using AMS. With its high throughput and relatively low costs per sample analysis, AMS should be of great benefit to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries as well as other life science areas.

A new look at the cyclotron for making short-lived isotopes. 1966 -classical article-.

This reprint of an article that first appeared in Nucleonics in 1966 provides a unique perspective of the introduction of the cyclotron into clinical medicine and medical research. The cyclotron offers a potentially powerful tool to biomedical centers. With this accelerator one can produce a variety of short-lived nuclides that are unavailable from other sources.

A brief history of positron emission tomography (PET).

The development of positron emission tomography (PET) illustrates how advances in basic science translates into benefits for human beings. In 1930 Ernest Lawrence and co-workers conceived of the cyclotron. By 1938 Lawrence, Livingston, et al had designed a "medical cyclotron." The subsequent production of C-11, N-13, O-15, and F-18 found many uses in medical and physiologic research. The introduction of F-18 deoxyglucose represents another major step toward practical clinical use of positron-emitting tracers. We have now achieved the transition from the postulation of the existence of positrons to their use in a wide variety of diseases.

Neutron therapy--the historical background.

Neutron therapy was first introduced by Stone et al. in 1938, i.e. more than 10 years earlier than electron beam therapy and only 6 years after the discovery of neutrons. In spite of the impressive accomplishment in generating an adequate therapy beam, time was also found for careful radiobiological studies of neutron beams. However, it was not considered that for a certain early reaction the late effects were much greater with neutrons than with x-rays. The severe late sequelae in proportion to the few good results motivated the closure of this therapy. Neutron therapy was again introduced in Hammersmith hospital at the end of the 1960's. The major reason seems to have been to overcome the oxygen effect. Encouraging results were reported. It was argued that the very favourable statistics on local tumour control were obtained at the expense of more frequent and more severe complications. A clinical trial in Edinburgh seemed to indicate this, but it was not proved in the end as the two trials differed regarding fractionation. Today about 16,000 patients have been treated with neutrons. The neutron beams now used differ significantly, both regarding dose distributions and microdosimetrical properties, from those utilized earlier. The advantage of neutrons is still, however, controversial. There are indications that neutron treatment may be favourable for some tumours. A careful cost-benefit study ought to be performed before the creation of a neutron therapy centre in Sweden as the group of patients suitable for neutrons is limited, and there may be new possibilities for improvement of photon and electron treatment with much smaller resources.