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24–28 Aug 2015
IAEA, Vienna
Europe/Vienna timezone

Session

Technical visit to MedAustron Ion Beam Therapy Centre near Wiener Neustradt

28 Aug 2015, 09:00
Boardroom B/M1 (IAEA, Vienna)

Boardroom B/M1

IAEA, Vienna

Description

MedAustron, a centre for ion therapy and research, is located in Wiener Neustadt in Lower Austria, about 50 kilometers south of Vienna. It is one of the most advanced centres for ion beam therapy and research in Europe. The radiation therapy applied will use protons and carbon ions. The first patient treatment is planned in 2015.
MedAustron offers an innovative form of radiation therapy (ion beam therapy) using protons and carbon ions. Compared to conventional radiation therapy, this treatment is able to reduce radiation exposure to adjacent healthy tissue and to spare the tissue behind the tumour almost entirely. Therefore, ion beam therapy is optimum treatment for tumours close to radiosensitive organs such as the brain and spinal cord, eyes, liver and lungs. Since tissue in growth is more sensitive to radiation, proton radiation is particularly suitable for cancer in children and adolescents.
At MedAustron, the protons or carbon ions are generated by three ion sources. The charged particles are pre-accelerated in a ‘linac’ (linear accelerator) on a straight path by electrical alternating fields and are then injected into the synchrotron. In the synchrotron, a circular accelerator with a circumference of 80 meters, the particles are further accelerated until they reach their final velocity of approximately two-thirds of the speed of light, or 200,000 km/s. Finally, the ion beam is conveyed into the irradiation rooms on an ‘extraction line’. The particles are held in place within a vacuum tube by strong magnetic fields, generated by 300 magnets in total. The synchrotron has been developed in close cooperation with CERN.

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