title: Charged particle therapy: the physics of interaction.
abstract: Particle therapy has a long and distinguished history with more than 50,000 patients having been treated, mainly with high-energy proton therapy. Particularly, for proton therapy, there is an increasing interest in exploiting the physical characteristics of charged particles for further improving the potential of radiation therapy. In this article, we review the most important interactions of charged particles with matter and describe the basic physical principles that underlie why particle beams behave the way they do and why such a behavior could bring many benefits in radiation therapy.
authors: Centre for Proton Radiotherapy, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen-PSI, Switzerland. tony.lomax@psi.ch
authors: Antony J
authors: AJ
authors: Lomax
mesh_terms: D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D010316:Particle Size; D017785:Photons / Q000627:therapeutic use; D061766:Proton Therapy; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness
chemical_list: D007477:Ions