Preview

the history of radiation therapy machines

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
5906 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
the history of radiation therapy machines
Chapter 1

From X-Rays to Ion Beams: A Short History of Radiation Therapy
James M. Slater

Abstract Radiation therapy (RT) developed in several eras. Patients’ needs for more effective treatment guided the efforts. The development of ion beam therapy
(IBT) can be seen as a corollary in this continuous endeavor to optimize disease control while minimizing normal-tissue damage. It could not have materialized, however, without the curiosity, ingenuity, and perseverance of researchers, engineers, and clinicians who developed important enabling technologies.

1.1 Introduction
Prior to the advent of ionizing particle beams, medicine had few options for treating some malignant and benign diseases. Physicians’ needs for new techniques to address these problems formed a vacuum, clearly demonstrated immediately following the discovery of X-rays in November 1895. By the first few months of 1896, X-rays were being used to treat skin lesions prior to any understanding of the beams’ physical or biological characteristics. The driving force was, of course, patients’ overwhelming need of treatment for uncontrollable and debilitating diseases. Radiation medicine developed over four major eras: the era of discovery, from
R¨ ntgen’s discovery to about the late 1920s; the orthovoltage era, from the late o 1920s through World War II; the megavoltage era, which began with higher-energy linacs for therapy in the 1950s, and, with refinements such as intensity-modulated
X-ray therapy (IMXT), is still ongoing. Within this scheme, the roots of IBT fall into the third or megavoltage phase, with the first treatment of humans in 1954.

J.M. Slater ( )
Department of Radiation Medicine, Loma Linda University Medical Center, 11234 Anderson
Street, CSP A-1010, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA e-mail: jmslater@dominion.llumc.edu
U. Linz (ed.), Ion Beam Therapy, Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical
Engineering, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-21414-1 1,
© Springer-Verlag Berlin



References: der physikalisch-medicinischen Gesellschaft zu W¨ rzburg, Sitzung 30, 132–141 (1895) u 7, 639–648 (1981) ´ 3. A.H. Becquerel, Sur les radiations emises par phosphorescence. Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. 122, 420–421 (1896) Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. 127, 175 (1898) 5 Sci. 132, 1289–1291 (1901) 6 7. E.H. Grubb´ , Priority in the therapeutic use of X-rays. Radiology 21, 156–162 (1933) e 8. C. Beck, Roentgen Ray Diagnosis and Therapy (Appleton, London, 1904) 9 10. H.S. Kaplan, Basic principles in radiation oncology. Cancer 39(Suppl 2), 689–693 (1977) 11 part dans le testicule, par le fractionnement de la dose. Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. 97, 431–434 (1927) 12. H. Coutard, Principles of X-ray therapy of malignant disease. Lancet 2, 1–12 (1934) 13 o 409–413 (1913) 14. J. Campbell, Web site on Lord Ernest Rutherford, including a comprehensive bibliography at http://www.rutherford.org.nz/bibliography.htm (accessed 4 March 2010) author of a comprehensive biography: Rutherford Scientist Supreme, (AAS, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1999) 15. R.F. Robison, The race for megavoltage. Acta Oncol. 34, 1055–1074 (1995) 16 313–321 (1928) 17 Science and Technology, vol. 1, ed. by A.W. Chao (World Scientific, Singapore, 2008), pp. 1–5 18 Lond. A 129, 477–489 (1930) 20 developments in the method of obtaining high velocity positive ions. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 136, 619–630 (1932) 23. D.W. Kerst, Acceleration of electrons by magnetic induction. Phys. Rev. 58, 841 (1940) 24 25. E.M. McMillan, The origin of the synchrotron. Phys. Rev. 69, 534 (1946) 26 principles, and contemporary developments. Phys. Med. Biol. 18, 321–354 (1973) 27 28. H.S. Kaplan, Historic milestones in radiobiology and radiation therapy. Semin. Oncol. 6, 479–489 (1979) 29. G.H. Fletcher, Supervoltage radiotherapy for cancer of the uterine cervix. Br. J. Radiol. 35, 5–17 (1962) 31. R.R. Wilson, Radiological use of fast protons. Radiology 47, 487–491 (1946) 32 heavy ions in radiation therapy: historical perspective. Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 3, 65–69 (1977) 95–96 (1956) 34 Radiat. Res. 103, 1–33 (1985) 35 Engl. J. Med. 278, 689–695 (1968) 36 beams in definitive fractionated radiation therapy. Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 8, 2199–2205 (1982) 37. J.E. Munzenrider, M. Austin-Seymour, P.J. Blitzer, et al., Proton therapy at Harvard. Strahlentherapie 161, 756–763 (1985) 38 39. J.M. Slater, I.R. Neilsen, W.T. Chu, et al., Radiotherapy treatment planning using ultrasoundsonic graph pen-computer system. Cancer 34, 96–99 (1974) 40 J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 9, 777–787 (1983) 42 9, 789–797 (1983) 43 445–457 (1974) 44 treatment center. Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 14, 761–775 (1988) 45 Oncol. Biol. Phys. 22, 383–389 (1992)

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Psy 240 Week 8

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages

    |Computed Tomography | Computer assisted x-ray that can see the | To see where tumors are in cancer | In |…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    1. Kevorkian Pharmaceutical Institute has developed a cancer treatment that is extremely promising and profitable. The treatment involves “salting” cancerous tumors with tiny metallic particles, and then exposing them to high intensity radio waves that cause the metallic pellets to heat up and destroy the tumor without harming the healthy tissue. Although studies have been positive (95% of all cases), researchers have also noted an extremely adverse, and potentially lethal, side effect in 5% of patients tested, and they do not know why.…

    • 3740 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    relative safety for the patient (radiation can be delivered from outside of the body and focused on the tumor, is painless, and generally does not require anesthesia)…

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    New to Health Care HCS/212 August 14, 2013 Dana Jankus New to Health Care In the past 20 years, there has been a huge growth of digital radiology in various organizationsThe article in general was written back in April 2000. It discusses about clinical trial with the digital radiology specifically using the Xplore 1000 digital system. In the year 2000, a chiropractor was the first to install this particular system for commercial use. There was an improvement in diagnostic and clinical information. Patients were getting faster results and getting a better understanding of their condition. One benefit of digital x-ray has become common in most hospitals and clinics is that it creates a digital picture archive within hospital communication systems allowing doctors to have easy access their patient images. It is designed to replace film in just about any existing X-ray imaging equipment used today and does not require film developers, processing chemicals or storage space. Another benefit is that digital X-ray images can be obtained almost instantly and their resolution, contrast and clarity are at least as good as those of film (Kermode-Scott,2000). Conventional film can take generally 10-15 minutes to process. Its takes up a large amount of time and the processing chemicals can be a bit much to deal with. Digital imaging is also being touted for its ability to capture more information than film. For example, radiologists can view New to Health Care the lungs, heart, bones and a pacemaker from one shot rather than the multiple shots required by conventional radiographs (Kermode-Scott, 2000). Digital imaging would change the office and for the better. We would not need the tall giant-sized book shelves to hold the x-rays films we have in envelopes. We would have so much more space. The office would save paper because we would not have to file x-ray reports with the films. We can do everything from the desktop computer. Also a big plus to digital imaging…

    • 682 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Adenocarcinoma Case Study

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Plan: We have discussed the role of radiotherapy in the management of his disease. Over 60 minutes were spent with the patient, over half of which was performed counseling the patient regarding the treatments and side effects of radiation therapy. Based upon the pathology of his prostate cancer he would benefit from radiotherapy.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Proton Therapy

    • 1237 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Traditional radiation treatment can damage the tissue around the tumor. However, with proton therapy, the protons' energy hits the tumor site, delivering a smaller dose to surrounding healthy tissue. With standard treatment, doctors may need to reduce the radiation dose to limit side effects, resulting from damage to healthy tissue. With treatment using protons, on the other hand, doctors can select an appropriate dose, knowing that there will likely be fewer early and late side effects of radiation on the healthy tissue.…

    • 1237 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The brachytherapy could be given into two different treatments(high or low dose rate treatment). With the bothtreatments a same dose of radiotherapy is given, whereas for over a different time.…

    • 2074 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Med Terms

    • 2785 Words
    • 12 Pages

    • Radiology- study and use of x-rays, sound waves and other forms of radiation and energy to diagnose diseases and conditions…

    • 2785 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sc300 Unit 4 Assignment

    • 2003 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Tillery, B. W., Enger, E. E., & Ross, F. C. (2008). SCI110: Integrated science: 2009 custom edition (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.…

    • 2003 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    | This was the most difficult to code because none of the codes describe x-rays or the part of the body that it was performed on so I decided to go with a technical component hoping that would cover x- rays.…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is an abundant worldwide issues we have today. In some way we all suffer from these issues. One of the most severe issue is cancer. Cancer is the one of the leading causes of death. Although we do not have a cure for cancer, our team of oncologist do the best they can to destroy these cancer cells in the victim’s body. Cancer is the growth of abnormal cells in the body that can spread in different areas if not treated. We do not know the reason why these abnormal cells develop, but we have different methods to try and cease the growth of those abnormal cells. The most common method we use today is radiation. Radiation is the administration of energy as particles or waves. When cancer victims undergo radiation, they undergo a series of…

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Note: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues or clients, use the RadioGraphics Reprints form at the end of this article.…

    • 1646 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    We see X-Rays all the time in television, science fiction novels, and comic book superheroes, but what is fact and what is fiction? By examining their makeup, history, modern applications, dangers, protection, and even possible future developments we can understand these scientific marvels far better and more accurately than watching an episode of Star Trek or reading a Superman comic.…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    4. stem cell transplantation (SCT) to enable treatment with high doses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy; and…

    • 609 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Immu

    • 3909 Words
    • 16 Pages

    This technique takes an ever more important in the treatment of cancer alongside conventional treatment tripod that is surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.…

    • 3909 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Powerful Essays