Application of the theory of track effects to cancer therapy. Progress report

A brief overall view of the status of these researches to date is given in Appendix I. A number of the results therein described were obtained during the tenure of the present grant. Included in this category are predictions of the response of the Fricke dosimeter to the neutron spectrum of the Hammersmith cyclotron source, fitting survival data on T-7 phage, assignment of parameters to diploid yeast, E. coli, and HeLa cells, development of a model of a heavy ion beam, and the design of a ridge filter for isoeffect (survival of kidney cells) in a tumor region. Some recent work on the systematics of the 1-hit detector is described in Appendix II, along with some useful applications of these systematics to the dosimetry of cancer therapy. Work is projected on the further development of an isoeffect filter, and on the provision of information from which a therapist may make a proper evaluation of the potential of heavy ion beams in therapy. Additionally effort is being expended on the reevaluation and refinement of cellular survival parameters