New strategies in radiation therapy: exploiting the full potential of protons.
Protons provide significant dosimetric advantages compared with photons because of their unique depth-dose distribution characteristics. However, they are more sensitive to the effects of intra- and intertreatment fraction anatomic variations and uncertainties in treatment setup. Furthermore, in the current practice of proton therapy, the biologic effectiveness of protons relative to photons is assumed to have a generic fixed value of 1.1. However, this is a simplification, and it is likely higher in different portions of the proton beam. Current clinical practice and trials have not fully exploited the unique physical and biologic properties of protons. Intensity-modulated proton therapy, with its ability to manipulate energies (in addition to intensities), provides an entirely new dimension, which, with ongoing research, has considerable potential to increase the therapeutic ratio.
Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Medical Physics and Radiation Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Radhe
R
Mohan
Anita
A
Mahajan
Bruce D
BD
Minsky
D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D061766:Proton Therapy; D050397:Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated; D011522:Protons
D011522:Protons