title: Particle beams for cancer therapy.
abstract: Particle beams from protons to carbon ions have a number of important advantages for radiation therapy. Besides the physical selectivity that makes ions especially efficient for deep-seated tumours and tumours close to critical organs, carbon ions with their enhanced relative biological effectiveness offer an additional biological advantage for slow-growing radioresistant tumours, with an additional gain for tumours with hypoxic sections. These advantages can only be fully exploited by active beam-shaping and biology-based treatment planning.
authors.affiliation: Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, Germany. W.Kraft-Weyrather@gsi.de
authors.forename: W K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Weyrather
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Debus
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011522:Protons; D018787:Radiation Oncology; D011853:Radiobiology; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy
chemical_list: D011522:Protons