A 62 MeV proton beam for the treatment of ocular melanoma at Laboratori Nazionali del Sud-INFN (CATANIA)

At the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud in Catania (Italy) the first Italian protontherapy facility, named CATANA (Centre di AdroTerapia e Applicazioni Nucleari Avanzate) has been realized in collaboration with the University of Catania. It is based on the use of the 62 MeV proton beam delivered by the K = 800 superconducting cyclotron installed and working at LNS since 1995. The facility is mainly devoted to the treatment of ocular diseases like uveal melanoma. A beam treatment line in air has been realized together with a dedicated positioning patient system. The facility is in operation since the beginning of 2002 and 52 patients have been successfully treated up to now. The main features of CATANA together with the clinical and dosimetric features will be extensively reported; particularly, will be described the proton beam line, that has been entirely realized at LNS, with all its elements, the experimental transversal and depth dose distributions of the 62 MeV proton beam obtained for a final collimator of 25 mm diameter and the experimental depth dose distributions of a modulated proton beam obtained for the same final collimator. Finally, the clinical results over one year of treatments, describing the features of the treated diseases will be reported.