LBL also is collaborating with other charged particle medical facilities throughout the world, notably at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Japan and the University of Heidelberg-GSI in Germany. With the approval of LBL Director Charles Shank, LBL not only has transferred several generations of know-how to the team at Davis, but has also provided on long loan most of the equipment required to precisely focus the proton beam so it can destroy tumors. LBL's contributions range from the computer system that controls the treatment, to power supplies for the accelerator operation, to the patient positioner used to accurately align the patient for proton treatment. An interesting historical footnote is that part of the Crocker cyclotron magnet came from one of LBL founder Ernest Lawrence's original cyclotrons, which itself was used to treat cancer patients some 50 years ago. The LBL team responsible for transferring this technology to UCD included radiation oncologist Joe Castro, physicist Tim Renner, administrative coordinator Jackie Iler, medical physicist Inder Daftari, electronic engineer Mark Nyman, software engineer R.P. Singh, mechanical technician Mario Cepeda, and former employees Ron Stradtner and Charlie Pascale.
Uveal melanoma is a relatively rare condition.
About 2,500 patients are diagnosed in this country every year. In the past, the usual means of treatment was to remove the eye in order to prevent the spread of cancer. Importantly, cancer is no more likely to recur after radiotherapy than after surgical removal of the eye. This technique was pioneered at LBL and the Harvard Cyclotron and has now spread to facilities in more than 10 countries around the world. Another current alternative treatment involves the temporary surgical implant on the surface of the eye of a plaque containing radioactive seeds.