Objective
The goal of EULIMA is to study the implementation of a hospital based, dedicated light-ion medical facility in Europe in order to make the benefits of light ions available to a large number of cancer patients.
%This objective is in agreement with the European Community strategy: improvement of local treatments of cancer.
The physical and radiobiological characteristics of high energy particle beams as well as the available clinical experience indicate that irradiation of certain tumour types or sites with these beams will improve local control (at present, about 40% of the patients with only localized disease at the time of diagnosis are not cured).
The concerted action has studied the feasibility of a hospital based light ion accelerator facility for the treatment of a large number of cancer patients. In a first part, the socioeconomic aspects, including clinical indications, patient numbers, the operational organization of a large light ion therapy centre, treatment cost and comparison with the actual cost of conventional treatment, have been addressed. In the second part, detailed studies (including cost) of the technical infrastructure have been carried out: design of a superconducting cyclotron, a synchrotron, beam transport and beam splitting, raster and spot scanning beam delivery systems and a variable incidence gantry have been made. Experiments to evaluate radiobiological properties of certain particle types, different beam delivery systems and the use of radioactive accelerated particles for quality control have been undertaken.
The study indicates that up to 3000 patients per year could be treated at 1 light ion accelerator facility at a treatment cost that should not exceed by more than a factor of 2 the cost of comparable conventional radiotherapy.
The feasibility study includes four parts:
1. The accelerator: the aim of this study is to evaluate options based on a superconducting cyclotron or a synchrotron. Considering various elements of the feasibility study and given the foreseeable development of technology, the Project Management Group has opted, after consultation of independent experts, for the synchrotron option.
2. The beam delivery system: two strategies for delivering the dose in the tumour volume, raster scanning or spot (pixel) scanning have been studied. A variable incidence angle system (gantry) has been investigated.
3. An experimental programme including:
- measurements of radio biological properties of carbon, oxygen and neon ions;
- the study of different magnetic beam scanning strategies;
- the production of radioactive ion beams.
4. Socio-economic and clinical aspects: clinical indications and their incidence have been determined and the factors allowing to evaluate the treatment costs in Europe have been analysed.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry noble gases
- natural sciences physical sciences theoretical physics particle physics particle accelerator
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
06200 Nice
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.