The Fermilab Cancer Therapy Facility: Status Report after 2.5 Years of Operation

This research facility has been treating cancer patients for 2.5 years. The original physical plant, controls and treatment room planning were adequate. Improvements have been natural system evolutions to simplify operations and reduce the time to set-up patients, thus increasing patient throughput. Linac changeover from p's to H-'s nearly trebled the dose rate. During the first half of this period most patients were pilot study cases while in the second half, they were mostly protocol cases. Major problems remaining are: 1. patient accession, and 2. lack of ancillary resources normally found in hospitals. One hundred and thirty patients have been entered into a randomized clinical trial from a group of four hundred and forty entered in the study. Descriptions of system improvements and medical research activities are given.