PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS OF CLINICAL PROTON-BEAMS FROM A SYNCHROTRON

Tumor treatment with charged particle beams is a quickly developing fi eld aimed to translate the potential advantages offered by the superio r physical dose distribution and relative biological effectiveness of heavy charged particles into a real improvement of tumor therapy. To t his purpose the new proton and light-ion radiation therapy facilities must be designed according to strict clinical specifications to provid e a reliable and effective tool against cancer. This paper provides th e performance specifications of the accelerator and of the beam transp ort and delivery systems of the Italian Hadrontherapy Centre, which sh ould be satisfied to meet the clinical specifications. A discussion is given on the requirements on energy range, energy variability, beam i ntensity, lateral penumbra, distal dose falloff, source-to-surface dis tance, time structure of the extracted beam, raster scanning system sp ecifications, and beam abort time. Though the physical specifications are given for a particular accelerator, they can be used as a general guideline for the design of future biomedical particle accelerator fac ilities. (C) 1996 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.