In the last ten years the use of proton beams in radiation therapy has become a clinical tool for treatment of deep-seated tumours. LIBO is a RF compact and low cost proton linear accelerator (SCL type) for hadrontherapy. It is conceived by TERA Foundation as a 3 GHz Linac Booster, to be mounted downstream of an existing cyclotron in order to boost the energy of the proton beam up to 200 MeV, needed for deep treatment (~25 cm) in the human body. With this solution it is possible to transform a low energy commercial cyclotron, normally used for eye melanoma therapy, isotope production and nuclear physics research, into an accelerator for deep-seated tumours. A prototype module of LIBO has been built and successfully tested with full RF power at CERN and with proton beam at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania, within an international collaboration between TERA Foundation, CERN, the Universities and INFN groups of Milan and Naples. The mid-term aim of the project is the technology transfer of the accumulated know-how to a consortium of companies and to bring this novel medical tool to hospitals. The design, construction and tests of the LIBO prototype are described in detail.
Dans le courant des dix dernières années, l'utilisation de faisceaux de protons est devenue un outil clinique pour le traitement des tumeurs profondes. LIBO (acronyme anglais pour LInac BOoster) est un accélérateur linéaire à protons (SCL) de prix modéré pour la thérapie du cancer. Il a été conçu par la Fondation TERA (Italie) pour être installé en aval d'un cyclotron à protons existant et, impulsé à une radiofréquence de 3 GHz, incrémenter l'énergie de son faisceau jusqu'aux 200 MeV nécessaires à une pénétration de ~25 cm dans le corps humain. Cette solution permet de transformer des cyclotrons commerciaux, normalement utilisés dans la thérapie du mélanome oculaire, dans la production d'isotopes et en physique nucléaire, en un accélérateur pour la cure des tumeurs profondes. Un module prototype du LIBO a été construit et testé avec succès à puissance RF maximale au CERN puis avec un faisceau de protons à Catane (Italie) auprès du Laboratorio Nazionale del Sud (LNS) de l'INFN, par une collaboration internationale formée par la Fondation TERA, le CERN et les Universités et les Sections INFN de Milan et Naples. Le but du projet à moyen terme concerne le transfert technologique des connaissances acquises dans ce domaine à un consortium de sociétés industrielles en vue d'installer dans des hôpitaux ce nouvel outil médical. La conception, la construction et les essais du module prototype du LIBO sont décrits en détail.
In the last ten years the use of proton beams in radiation therapy has become a clinical tool for treatment of deep-seated tumours. LIBO is a RF compact and low cost proton linear accelerator (SCL type) for hadrontherapy. It is conceived by TERA Foundation as a 3 GHz Linac Booster, to be mounted downstream of an existing cyclotron in order to boost the energy of the proton beam up to 200 MeV, needed for deep treatment (~25 cm) in the human body. With this solution it is possible to transform a low energy commercial cyclotron, normally used for eye melanoma therapy, isotope production and nuclear physics research, into an accelerator for deep-seated tumours. A prototype module of LIBO has been built and successfully tested with full RF power at CERN and with proton beam at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania, within an international collaboration between TERA Foundation, CERN, the Universities and INFN groups of Milan and Naples. The mid-term aim of the project is the technology transfer of the accumulated know-how to a consortium of companies and to bring this novel medical tool to hospitals. The design, construction and tests of the LIBO prototype are described in detail.
After my graduation in nuclear engineering at Politecnico of Milan and with a one-year experience on the design of a synchrotron for hadrontherapy, I started to work with CERN and TERA Foundation on LIBO project in 1998 in the frame of an international collaboration. The main activities presented in this thesis have been performed in the period 1998-2002, most of which I spent at CERN in co-operation with senior specialists in mechanics, Radio Frequency (RF) and particle accelerator technology.
The objective of the thesis is to present the results of these activities that have generated the first LIBO prototype module. In particular chapters 1 and 3 are used as a general introduction to cancer therapy with hadrons and to the physics of linear accelerators, giving some background information to be used later. A brief description of LIBO studies is shown in chapters 2 and 4 while chapters 5 to 7 are devoted to the design, construction and tests of the prototype, with particular emphasis on the engineering subjects. In this part I was directly involved and then it represents the main core of the present thesis. Finally chapter 8 shows some ideas about future possibilities generated by the success of the prototype, such as the IDRA project, the technology transfer to industry for LIBO production and the new linac for cancer therapy with carbon ions of TERA Foundation. Introduction Cancer is the second major cause of death (after cardiovascular diseases) in the developed countries. Today the three available therapeutic approaches are: surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. With these techniques successful treatments can be achieved for about 45% of all cancer patients. For about 2/3 of the patients the disease is still well localised within a specific region of the body at the time of the diagnosis of cancer. For these patients the chances of cure using a local therapy (surgery or radiation therapy) are reasonably good. Reduced sizes of tumours and early diagnosis allow big probability for good therapeutic results. In this context screening plays a crucial role in the early detection of the disease. Surgery is the most successful modality. Radiation therapy, used also in combination with surgery, is the second most effective treatment and it is used when the tumour is still well localised but it is inoperable.
