Search

The Heidelberg Ion Therapy Facility (HIT) is the first dedicated proton and carbon therapy facility in Europe. It uses full three dimensional intensity controlled raster scanning as basic treatment technique. Commissioning of the accelerator with beam was successfully finished for three fixed beam places in April 2008. A library of 60000 combinations of beam properties (ion type, treatment place, energy, intensity, beam size) is now offered to the treatment technique teams preparing the treatment systems for the clinical use. The HIT facility also comprises a gantry with full scanning properties constituting the first carbon ion gantry worldwide. The gantry can be rotated by 360 degree, so that the beam may be aimed at the patient from arbitrary directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]