Ensuring the highest level of public health protection in the current context of socio-economic change is a key challenge for Europe. The impact of an ageing population on the health care systems, the growing focus on degenerative diseases, early diagnosis and treatment of cancer are just some of the issues at the centre of health policies focused on the goal of personalised medicine. The activities carried out at INFN in the field of medical applications of physics, in collaboration with the medical and industrial worlds, make it possible to transfer innovations that are important for the health of citizens, on several fronts.
1. Prevention
INFN pioneered the application of artificial intelligence techniques in medicine, developing high-performance software for the automatic search of nodules in lung tomography scans and for the early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases.
2. Diagnostic imaging
New monochromatic X-ray sources from Free Electron Laser (FEL) or Inverse Compton Scattering (ICS) are being investigated to enable dose reduction during image acquisition (e.g. mammography), as well as new positron-emitting radio-isotopes for PET (Positron Emission Tomography). In addition, systems that are now considered standard, such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance are being innovated, both with 7 Tesla superconducting magnets for diagnosing degenerative diseases, and with use in multi-modal systems (e.g. PET/MRI/EEG). INFN also participates in the development of new imaging tools, such as proton computed tomography, to fully exploit the advantages of Hadrontherapy treatments.
3. Cancer treatment
particle accelerators developed by INFN have proved to be important tools in radiotherapy and hadrontherapy, as have detectors for beam monitoring and software tools that enable treatments with charged particles to be planned in such a way as to comply with oncologists’ prescriptions (Treatment Planning System). Recently, INFN has also played an important role in the development, construction and clinical validation of a PET system for monitoring the range of hadrontherapy beams in real time: the INSIDE detector was the first system in the world to provide accurate and reliable feedback during treatment sessions.
INFN participated in the design and creation of relevant treatment centres: CATANA, at the National Laboratories of the South in Catania, is Italy’s first centre for treating ocular melanoma with protons, the CNAO (Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica – National Centre for Oncology Hadrontherapy) in Pavia, which uses a synchrotron to accelerate protons or ions (including carbon), which extremely selectively target tumour cells. In addition, the national Trento Institute For Fundamental Physics Applications is a research partner of the Trento Proton Therapy Centre, which treats patients with various types of solid tumours and at the same time enables pre-clinical radiobiology research.
