Background: Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) is a serious concern in carbon-ion radiation therapy (CIRT) for thoracic malignancies. To estimate the induction of RILI after CIRT, translation of evidence in X-ray radiation therapy to CIRT is of great importance. However, the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of carbon-ion beams in normal lung tissues is not fully elucidated, making the ...

PURPOSE Due to the high conformity of carbon ion therapy, unpredictable changes in the patient's geometry or deviations from the planned beam properties can result in changes of the dose distribution. PET has been used successfully to monitor the actual dose distribution in the patient. However, it suffers from biological washout processes and low detection efficiency. The purpose of this contr...

Monte Carlo (MC) methods are increasingly being utilized to support several aspects of commissioning and clinical operation of ion beam therapy facilities. In this contribution two emerging areas of MC applications are outlined. The value of MC modeling to promote accurate treatment planning is addressed via examples of application of the FLUKA code to proton and carbon ion therapy at the Heide...

PURPOSE To evaluate feasibility and toxicity of carbon ion therapy for treatment of sinonasal malignancies. First site of treatment failure in malignant tumours of the paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity is mostly in-field, local control hence calls for dose escalation which has so far been hampered by accompanying acute and late toxicity. Raster-scanned carbon ion therapy offers the advantage o...

Heavy-ion irradiation induces a higher frequency of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) which must be properly repaired. Critical shortening of telomeres can trigger DNA damage responses such as DSBs. Telomeres are very sensitive to oxidative stress such as ionizing radiation. The DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) is the central component in the non-homologous end joining (N...

The aim of this study was to prospectively assess 5-year health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients treated with carbon ion radiotherapy (C-ion RT) for clinically localized prostate cancer. A total of 417 patients received carbon ion radiotherapy at a total dose of 63-66 Gray-equivalents (GyE) in 20 fractions over 5 weeks, and neoadjuvant and adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) ...

BACKGROUND To examine the potential improvement in treatment planning for patients with skull base meningioma using IMRT compared to carbon ion or proton beams with and without a gantry. METHODS Five patients originally treated with photon IMRT were selected for the study. Ion beams were chosen using a horizontal beam or an ion gantry. Intensity controlled raster scanning and the intensity mo...