Applications of Accelerators and Detectors to Cancer Treatment

Abstract:

Purpose. A recent initiative was launched for establishing the South-East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST), a pan European research infrastructure (RI) which will provide a cutting-edge technology for (a) radiotherapy treatment with accelerated protons and ions and (b) multidisciplinary fundamental research involving accelerated ion beams. To justify the initiative for building the SEEIIST facility for cancer treatment, a study was conducted to estimate the time progress of the cancer incidence and mortality due to cancer in the countries of the SEE region. Methods and materials. The demography and the economic development of the SEE region were studied in relation to their emigration rate (brain drain). Time development of the incidence and mortality were studied for the SEE countries from the data available at Globocan of the IARC@WHO. Cancer epidemiology data were collected and studied by using the countries' cancer datasheets from the World Health Organization (WHO). The top ten cancers were presented for the SEE countries and for the region as a whole. Results. From the available data it is evident that the incidence and the mortality, both grow with time in the SEE region, unlike in the developed European countries chosen for reference, where the mortality declines with time. The occurrence of breaking points in curves mortality vs. time is evident for all the analyzed SEE countries. Many of these points coincide with changes in the societal aspects (security, politics and/or economy). Conclusion. The emerging research infrastructure SEEIIST will mitigate the brain drain from SEE, and contribute in overcoming the historical friction in the turbulent Balkan region, offering research opportunities in many fields related to accelerated ions, foster, research, innovation and knowledge transfer, facilitate radiational therapy with particles to the cancer patients of the SEE region, reducing the growing cancer mortality, thereby. SEEIIST will be developed as a strong commitment of the SEE countries' governments and common effort in science diplomacy of the international community. The central research facility will be based in one of the ten SEE countries. In parallel with developing the principal RI, several SEEIIST HUBs and NETWORKs will be developed for different SEE countries in support to the SEEIIST sustainability. To provide sustainability of the SEEIIST RI, a GREEN energy HUB (Green power plant for powering SEEIIST) will be set. Also, an IT HUB (providing big data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence for SEEIIST), Imaging HUB (developing novel imaging solutions for ion therapy for SEEIIST), etc. Furthermore, several combined SEE and western European networks will be established, such as the Training network, Radiobiology Network, Network of Oncologists, Network of Veterinary scientists, with their central coordination offices located in different SEE countries, with the objective to start joint research related primarily to the cancer treatment but also to other research disciplines.