Superconducting cyclotron for medical application

A medical superconducting cyclotron, the first such project to be undertaken, is under construction. The cyclotron will be used to produce neutron beams for use in radiation treatment of cancer. The purpose of such treatment is to administer lethal doses of radiation to tumor cells while minimizing dose to normal tissue; rather intense neutron beams are required for the treatments to occur in a reasonably expeditious time and the device needs to be able to fire the neutrons at the patient from any angle. The authors briefly review the medical rationale for such a device and then describe the cyclotron design with special emphasis on details of the superconducting coil and cryostat.>