Forschungszentren Mission Construction and operation of accelerator facilities and research with heavy ions Budget Institutional funding: €164.6 million, further resources: €23.1 million (status 2020) Staff [...] 400 institutes from more than 50 countries Large facility equipment Linear Accelerator UNILAC Heavy Ion Synchrotron SIS Experimental Storage Ring ESR Fragment separator FRS Highenergy-/Highperformance Laser

General information about the tumor therapy with ion beams Project partners Contact Project Partners GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung Darmstadt Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum Heidelberg

construction of the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Radiotherapy Center (HIT). GSI has developed an accelerator that is tailored to the requirements of this project for the routine application of ion-beam radiotherapy. The [...] Clinical facility in Marburg In Marburg there is located another particle therapy facility, the Marburg Ion Beam Therapy Center (MIT). It went into operation in November 2015. © Image: GSI Helmholtzzentrum für

g From 1997 to 2008, GSI has been operating a radiotherapy unit for cancer treatment using carbon ions at its accelerator facility, in collaboration with the Department of Radiology at the Heidelberg

of treatment planning, GSI developed a model for calculating the biological effectiveness of carbon ions in different tissues. This, in combination with the physical dose distribution, allows the computation [...] the carbon beam to precisely and selectively scan the tumor volume. To this end, the speed of the ions—and consequently their penetration depth—is controlled by varying the energy level of the accelerator [...] tissue is minimized. Online therapy monitoring As they travel through tissues, a small number of carbon ions are transformed into a different carbon isotope. Each such event liberates two quanta of gamma radiation

the carbon ions damage cells very effectively at their full penetration depth within the body. In protons and lighter ions the increase in biological effectiveness is small. In heavier ions it occurs too [...] tumor. Another advantage of using carbon ions is that lateral scattering in the body is much less than with protons and lighter ions. As a result, carbon ions are better suited for irradiating deep-seated [...] in the tumor can be optimized by selecting the appropriate kind of ions. Many years of research at GSI have established that carbon ions are best. The maximum biological effect coincides exactly with the

the far side. Ions, on the other hand, penetrate into the body and unfold their damaging effects at the end of their flight path in a specific depth, which depends on the speed of the ions. The dose along [...] reaches a sharp peak in the small—pinhead-sized—tissue volume in which the ions come to a stop. By controlling the speed of the ions, the depth at which this dose maximum occurs can be located precisely within [...] as the biological effectiveness in the tumor while minimizing them in healthy tissues. Accelerated ions meet these objectives far better than the commonly used X-rays. Physical dose distribution As an X-ray

development was the result of many years of research in conjunction with GSI’s large ion-beam accelerator system. To date, ion-beam radiotherapy has been used to treat more than 440 patients for tumors in the [...] the head or neck region. The advantage of this new treatment modality is that the ion beam selectively damages tumor tissues while sparing the surrounding healthy tissues. Further research will focus on [...] on applying the new treatment method to other malignant tumors as well. An ion-beam radiotherapy center was constructed at the Heidelberg University Medical Center under the technical direction of GSI.

research in conjunction with GSI’s large ion-beam accelerator system. To date at GSI, ion-beam radiotherapy has been used to treat more than 440 patients for tumors in the head or neck region. Currently the [...] new treatment modality is that the ion beam selectively damages tumor tissues while sparing the surrounding healthy tissues. Information about cancer therapy with ion beams: New avenues in radiation therapy [...] Ion-Beam Radiotherapy in the Fight against Cancer © GSI-Tumortherapie GSI-Tumortherapie GSI is the birthplace of a new form of cancer treatment. This development was the result of many years of research

to 2009, tumor patients were successfully treated with ion beams at GSI. In doing so, tumors in the head were irradiated by accelerated carbon ions, tumors that could not be treated with conventional therapy [...] complex system of storage rings: the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research FAIR . At the facility, highly intense and highly energetic ion beams and antiproton beams of best quality will be available for [...] of nuclear physical basic research at GSI is the study of hot and dense nuclear matter. With heavy ion beams, the multiple varieties of nuclear matter, from the "liquid" normal state over the free nucleon