Hadron therapy represents an important innovation in the fight against cancer.
While still relatively new and seen as experimental, with only the first patient treated in 1992, its ability to deposit much of its radiation directly at the site of a tumour and therefore reducing damage to surrounding healthy tissues has made it advantageous for treatment of cancers localised close to vital organs.
Considered the answer to X-ray resistant diseases, hadron therapy is being used in treatment of high-risk prostate and advanced pancreatic cancer, sarcomas and locally advanced cancers where the disease has spread out of the capsule of the gland, primarily in the liver, especially patients with cirrhosis, to name a few examples.
As evidence grows to demonstrate its effectiveness, ANSTO was fortunate to hear from two of its key proponents from one of the leading hadron centres in Europe Professors Sandro Rossi and Roberto Orecchia from the National Centre of Oncology Hadron Therapy (CNAO) in Italy.
In this two-part series both Sandro and Roberto take us on a journey from hadron therapies early beginnings in Berkeley, California to an in-depth investigation of how it works.
About the speakers:
Professor Sandro Rossi is a physicist with over 20 years of experience in the field of hadron therapy. In the late 90s he has lead CERN’s Proton Ion Medical Machine Study (PIMMS), before he moved to Italy (in 2003) to become involved in the construction of CNAO (he is now general manager of the foundation). He also holds a teaching appointment on the applications of physics to medicine, at the State University of Milano Bicocca, Italy.
The CNAO’s Scientific Directorate, Roberto Orecchia is Professor of Radiation Oncology at University of Milan with more than 300 publications, chapters and other teaching materials on various topics, including high precision radiotherapy techniques such as 3D-conformal, stereotactic, intraoperative, IMRT and hadron therapy.