Radiation therapy

The Heidelberg Ion Radiation Therapy Center (HIT), Europe's first heavy-ion accelerator, opened Monday.

The 119-million-euro ($2.8-million) accelerator is designed to destroy cancer tumors and consumes as much electricity as a town of 10,000 people, according to the doctor in charge of the facility. The German government and Heidelberg University split the accelerator's costs, while health insurers have agreed to pay bills of 20,000 euros for each session.

HIT is set to treat 1,300 patients suffering from brain tumors and other difficult carcinomas each year. The treatment offers a new option to about 15 percent of all cancer patients, according to Juergen Debus, HIT's medical director.

All people treated at the center will be enrolled in studies to determine the most effective uses of the heavy-ion accelerator. A more accurate device prevents damage to healthy brain tissue and reduces the unpleasant side effects of cancer therapy, the medical team said.

More precise than conventional treatment

In the center of the new building is the 670-ton heavy-ion gantry, a ring 13 meters in diameter that accelerates heavy ions and protons up to three quarters of the speed of light before they slam into tumors.

The device, which has a power uptake of 3 megawatts, will be staffed 24 hours a day to ensure it is kept spotlessly clean, since dust could cripple it.

A HIT prototype created in Darmstadt was used to treat 440 patients with uncommon forms of brain and pancreatic cancer with success rates that doubled those of the conventional X-ray treatment.

Marc Muenter, the head doctor, said the Darmstadt system brought at least five years of extra life for 80-90 percent of the patients it treated.

Technical advances made to the accelerator in Heidelberg could see success rates increase to as much as 80 percent, according to Debus.

The radiation beam can be directed more accurately than the X-rays conventionally used against cancer. Tests are continuing so see which ions are most effective: those of carbon, oxygen or helium.

Physics professor Thomas Haberer, who headed the design team, said the machine was comparable in its complexity with the world's biggest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380.

Patients, however, do not notice the machine's massive size during the 20 minutes of preparation and average five minutes of therapy in the center's treatment rooms.

sms/dpa/AFP

Editor: Sam Edmonds