RADIOISOTOPES

One in two people has suffered from cancer in Japan. Cancer has a specific property, called metastasis. Metastasis and recurrence are extremely important factors that determine the prognosis of various cancer treatments. Recent advances in the field of radiotherapy have considerably improved the treatment outcome of various types of cancer based on the benefits of advances in oncology, physics, engineering, biology etc. Although the number of cancer patients receiving radiotherapy is increasing, knowledge about radiation effects on metastasis is not sufficient and radiotherapy targeting metastasis is extremely undeveloped. Experiments using various particle ion species and linear energy transfer are possible with HIMAC of NIRS. By using this facility, it is possible to examine the influence of not only “quantity” but also “quality” of radiation, and to obtain useful data that can contribute to radiation cancer metastasis research.