Radiotherapy consist in the administration of localized radiation doses in the treatment of some diseases, especially cancer. Electrons or gamma rays kill the cancer cells, yet causing damage in the tissues surrounding the targeted area. Such damage can be acute or long-term evidenced, depending on tissues’ radiosensitivity.  Protontherapy (part of Adrotherapy, which includes both protons and light ions) utilize instead  protons which, thanks to their spatial selectivity, are able to deliver a dose highly conformed to the target site, with a minor involvement of the neighboring healthy tissues, thus reducing significantly the late secondary effects.
ENEA activities aimed to novelties in ionizing radiation applications include the development of particles accelerators for medical purpose. Long time established collaborations exist with many research institutes (National Health Institute, Hospital Physiotherapy Institutes, CERN) in employing proton- and Adrotherapy to realize apparatuses for classic and intraoperative radiotherapy  (IORT). In 2010 the TOP-IMPLART project got started, an agreement program with Regione Lazio, with TECS Division in the forefront, in order to realize an innovative linear accelerator prototype  (up to 150 MeV) to be utilized in a forthcoming facility employing protons in medical oncology.
Up to date, the original schedule is in due course, achieving a final design of the accelerator up to 35 MeV by SCDTL systems (ENEA patent) and the set-up of the first three modules up to 27 MeV. TECS Division, in joint activity with FSN-TECS and IRP ENEA Units, carries out experiments dedicated to the beam properties characterization, propaedeutic to its clinical application.