The MedAustron facility, in Austria, treats cancer patients with particle beams, a medical technology that CERN contributed to the development of (Image: CERN)
The quest for improved cancer treatment continues, as recent progress in medical technology brings humanity closer than ever to defeating its old foe. Among the technological advances is treatment of cancer with particle beams, which has helped to cure more than 260 000 patients to date. CERN, with its expertise in particle accelerators, has helped to push these technologies for decades. Now, new collaborations and projects are improving and democratising such treatment still further.
Particle therapy emerged from a dense network of accelerator facilities and medical labs. In the 1990s, CERN helped lay the theoretical groundwork with the PIMMS project (Proton-Ion Medical Machine Study), which underpinned the creation of Europe’s two main hadron-therapy treatment centres – namely, CNAO (Centro Nazion