Radiological use of fast protons.

Except for electrons, the particles which have been accelerated to high energies by machines such as cyclotrons or Van de Graaff generators have not been directly used therapeutically. Rather, the neutrons, gamma rays, or artificial radioactivities produced in various reactions of the primary particles have been applied to medical problems. This has, in large part, been due to the very short penetration in tissue of protons, deuterons, and alpha particles from present accelerators. Higher-energy machines are now under construction, however, and the ions from them will in general be energetic enough to have a range in tissue comparable to body dimensions. It must have occurred to many people that the particles themselves now become of considerable therapeutic interest. The object of this paper is to acquaint medical and biological workers with some of the physical properties and possibilities of such rays. To be as simple as possible, let us consider only high-energy protons: later we can generalize to oth...