The Indiana University midwest Proton Radiation Institute

Abstract

Funding to convert the IUCF K220 separated sector cyclotrons into a dedicated proton source for Cancer Therapy was released by Indiana University in August of 2000. Phase I of the Midwest Proton Radiation Institute (MPRI) will initially consist of the IUCF separated sector cyclotrons upgraded to operate at a fixed energy of 205 MeV, a treatment room containing both a general purpose large field horizontal fixed line and a small field line for the treatment of eye melanoma, a second treatment room with a 360 o rotating Gantry, and a comprehensive medical clinic. A third treatment room with a gantry is incorporated into the beam delivery system design as a future upgrade. The MPRI beam delivery system is now under construction and will incorporate a beam sharing system to allow simultaneous beam delivery to all medical treatment rooms, as well as to medical and commercial research facilities. Additional Funding is anticipated for the construction of a dedicated Radiation Effects Research (RERP) facility for NASA and other commercial users requiring beam similar to those used for proton therapy. This report will outline the goals and design of the MPRI medical and commercial facilities, its present construction status and projected completion schedules.

Energy degrader optimization for medical beam lines

“…Installing a variable thickness energy degrader provides a fast, reliable and reproducible way of setting the beam energy, which is especially important for medical applications. Several proton radiation treatment centers including MPRI [1] and NPTC [2] plan on using variable energy degraders to set the beam energy for radiation treatments. A typical setup includes a variable thickness degrader followed by a momentum selection beam line that transfers the beam to a treatment room.…”

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This paper describes the optimization of a variable energy degrader design for the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI) [1]. To optimize the energy degrader design we investigate the choice of an optimal material for the degrader, the beam emittance growth in the degrader, and the matching of the degraded beam with the acceptance of a medical beam line.

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Biological and Mechanical Synergies to Deal With Proton Therapy Pitfalls: Minibeams, FLASH, Arcs, and Gantryless Rooms

“…One of the three aspects that they list to “democratize” protons is to reduce the costs of proton systems by doing away with expensive gantry systems and adopt fixed beam treatment rooms attaining multiple beam angles by rotating the patient in the beam. Fixed horizontal beams have been exploited in early systems to treat the patients in a seated position ( 88 , 89 ) and at Fermi Lab, patients were treated in an upright position with neutrons ( 90 , 91 ). Seated and upright treatments were until recently regarded as suboptimal arrangements forced on proton therapy when it was only available at physics research institutions, i.e., before the very large, expensive gantry systems were developed for and installed at hospital based and free-standing proton therapy clinics.…”

The Use of Industrial Robot Arms for High Precision Patient Positioning

“…The unique design requirements presented by MPRI [1] for patient positioning has yielded the design of a general system called The Patient Handling System or PHS (see figure 1). This system is responsible for locating a patient in the proton beam isocenter with the correct orientation, as prescribed by the treatment planning process.…”

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The Indiana University Cyclotron Facility (IUCF) is in the process of designing and building the Midwest Proton Radiation Institute (MPRI) [1]. The design process includes the development of several patient treatment systems.

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