Medical application of radioactive nuclear beams at HIMAC

By using the radioactive nuclear beam with relativistic high energy of short-lived positron emitting nuclei, such as C-10 and C-11, a verification system for the precise radiotherapy has been developed. It is possible to determine the precise particle range and the three-dimensional irradiated area in the human body by a positron camera detector and a positron emission tomography system, respectively. The biological and chemical process of the metabolism is an important parameter for the precise measurement. The biological lifetimes of the C-10 and C-11 injected into the rabbit's organs have been observed for the study of metabolism. The microscopic process around the cell is also of interest in the study of biological effectiveness. The observation of the difference between radiological effectiveness of C-9 and that of C-12 is in progress. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.