Photons and Hadrons for Health

Photons and hadrons are at the basis of one hundred years of research in fundamental particle physics and play nowadays a fundamental role in modern medicine. In diagnostics, computer tomography and positron emission tomography allow to explore the inner parts of the body and to determine with high precision the location of pathologies such as tumours. In the developed countries every 10 million inhabitants about 20000 oncological patients are irradiated every year with high-energy photons produced by electron linacs installed in hospital based radiotherapy centres. Hadrontherapy is a novel technique of radiotherapy which employs beams of charged hadrons, protons and carbon ions in particular. Due to their physical and radio-biological properties, they allow to obtain a more conformal treatment, sparing better the surrounding healthy tissues with a subsequent larger control rate and quality of life after treatment. By now about 40000 patients have been treated worldwide with protons and 15 hospital based centres are either running or under construction. Carbon ion beams are characterised by a larger biological effectiveness and are particularly indicated for the treatment of specific radio-resistant tumours. The fundamental role of photons and hadrons in modern medical applications is proof of the importance that fundamental research has for society.