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Proton beam radiation therapy (PBRT), as well as the other forms of hadrontherapy, is in use in the treatment of neoplastic diseases, to realize a high selective irradiation with maximum sparing of surrounding organs. The main characteristic of such a particles is to have an increased radiobiological effectiveness compared to conventional photons (about 10% more) and the advantage to deposit the energy in a defined space through the tissues (Bragg peak phenomenon). The goal of ELIMED Project is the realization of a laser accelerated proton beam line to prove its potential use for clinical application in the field of hadrontherapy. To date, there are several potential clinical applications of PBRT, some of which have become the treatment of choice for a specific tumour, for others it is under investigation as a therapeutic alternative to conventional X-ray radiotherapy, to increase the dose to the tumour and reduce the side effects. For almost half of cancers, an increased local tumour control is the mainstay for increased cancer curability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After six years of activity 155 patients have been treated inside the CATANA (Centro di AdroTerapia ed Applicazioni Nucleari Avanzate) facility. CATANA is the first and unique proton therapy facility in which the 62 MeV proton beams, accelerated by a Superconducting Cyclotron, are used for the radio-therapeutic treatments of choroidal and iris melanomas. Inside CATANA new absolute and relative dosimetric techniques have been developed in order to achieve the best results in terms of treatment precision and dose release accuracy. The follow-up results for 42 patients demonstrated the efficacy of high energy protons in the radiotherapeutic field and encouraged us in our activity in the battle against cancer [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]