Engineers are to develop new imaging technology that could provide more accurate cancer treatments. The collaborative project between engineers at Lancaster University and scientists and clinicians at the University of Manchester, the Christie NHS Foundation Trust and CERN, will develop a prototype ‘X-band linac structure’ that can be retro-fitted on proton beam therapy equipment, which is used in complex radiotherapy treatments at over 50 hospitals around the world. The technology will enable proton imaging of adults that can help improve the accuracy of proton therapy. Radiotherapy with protons is important in some cancer treatments as its greater treatment accuracy can reduce side effects, for example, when treating some cancers in children. In this project – ‘PROBE: PROton Beam Extension for Imaging and Therapy’ project – a prototype will be built of a novel high-frequency linac that can boost the energy of protons from the 250 mega-electron volts (MeV) available from conventional medical cyclotrons to 350MeV, sufficient for imaging all patients.

“Proton imaging will increase the accuracy of proton treatments to under one millimetre, which really counts when treating tumours near sensitive organs,” said Dr Graeme Burt, senior lecturer at Lancaster University’s Engineering Department and lead researcher on the 12-month project.