Status of the "ETOILE" project for a French hadrontherapy centre.

It is proposed to build a national centre for light-ion hadrontherapy in France, located in Lyon in the Rhône-Alpes region. Under the auspices of University Claude Bemard Lyon-I and with the support of a research contract between Rhône-Alpes region and the Minister of Research, a design has been elaborated. This paper reviews the medical and technical characteristics of the project, called ETOILE (Espace de Traitement Oncologique par Ions Légers dans le cadre Européen).