Major Events in Radiation Therapy History

The start

Nov 8, 1895

-Roentgen accidentally discovered X-rays.
-Roentgen was a professor at Wuerzburg University in Germany
-first x-ray Roentgen took was an image of his wife's hand.

Discovery of Radium

1898

-Marie and Perrie Currie discovered radium.
-The discovery of radium helped kickstart radiation therapy and Nuclear medicine.
-Marie was the one to isolate radium by using pitchblende to produce radium.

Brachytherapy

1915

-Brachytherapy used to treat prostate cancer was first pioneered by Benjamin Barringer.
-Used 4-6 inch radium needles through the perineum to the prostate.
-to help guide the needles they used their finger by going into the rectum to feel the prostate.

External beam radium

1918

-Physicist Gioacchino Failla developed the first external beam radium therapy device.
-Other names for external radium therapy include radium element pack or radium bomb.
-This type of treatment was used to treat cancers in the chest, brain, and abdomen.

Radiation film badge

1920

-Edith Hinkley Quimby was the first to institute a full-scale "film badge" program.
-Edith Quimby wrote countless articles discussing the research she has done on examining various properties of radium and x-rays.
-With Quimby's research she helped develop radiation dose charts that are still used to this day.

Proton therapy

1946

-a Harvard particle physicist, Robert R. Wilson, proposed using proton beams for medical application.
-wasn't until the 1950s that it was fully considered by researchers for medical purposes.
-the first people to receive proton beam therapy were treated with pituitary irradiation, to control metastatic breast cancer.

betatron

1952

-First machine to be installed was at MSK in New York.
-Used to treat breast, head, neck, and several other cancers.
-this machine delivers high-energy electrons directly to tumors.

Afterloading

1956

-Afterloading was developed by Ulrich Henschke.
-Henschke changed the world of brachythearpy with the use of afterlaoding.
-afterloading techniques included the use of catheters to help limit radiation exposure to hospital personnel.

linear accelerator

1972

-Dr. Peter Fessenden developed the first linear accelerator that uses two types of radiation.
-The original linear accelerator at Standford University was donated to the Smithsonian.
-Dr. Fessenden worked with Varien Clinac to develop the linear accelerator.

IMRT

1988

-IMRT was born in 1988 by Anders Brahme.
-The main methods for IMRT developed in the mid 90's.
-Clinical IMRT started in 1994.