Status of carbon-ion radiotherapy facilities in Japan

Carbon-ion radiotherapy has large physical and biological advantages, and clinical results performed by HIMAC at NIRS awaken a deep interest. Several hospital-specified facilities are recently under commissioning or construction in Japan. Carbon-ion radiotherapy is based on the advanced technology in wide various fields. In order to promote this treatment method to the daily treatment, constant cooperative efforts by public and private organizations are necessary, i.e. providing of abundant clinical data, technology transfer, personnel training, organizing of the specialists' network, and so on. The present status and future prospects in Japan are reported.