Proton beam therapy is used to treat certain forms of cancer. Compared with standard radiotherapy, proton beam therapy causes less damage to healthy cells while potentially decreasing side effects and potentially reducing side effects.
Before beginning treatment at the proton centre, you will undergo tests to help plan out the best strategy for you and create a custom mask or mould to help stay still during radiation sessions.
High Energy Protons
Protons offer targeted radiation of specific tumors while sparing normal tissues – making it particularly effective against tumors in sensitive organs like the brain or lungs, where conventional radiation could lead to radiation toxicity.
Proton beam therapy offers the same cancer-destroying dose while sparing surrounding healthy tissue from being affected, making it possible to target microscopic tumours that are difficult to target with conformal x-rays and treat lymph nodes that contain cancerous growths.
Before radiation therapy begins, a health care team will scan your body in order to create a detailed map of the area to be treated. With this data in hand, clinical oncologist and physicist collaborate on planning your treatment; marking where they want the radiation directed while also marking healthy areas that must be avoided and the radiation oncologist may request the assistance of the physicist in ensuring its safety and efficacy.
As proton beam physics differ from that of x-rays, treatment plans must be designed specifically to optimize its results. An effort is made to minimize any side effects on tumor targets or normal tissues surrounding them – known as beam optimisation – with various techniques such as collimation and tracking used by physicists to maximize its efficacy.
Another strategy to increase proton dosage involves using a pencil beam scanning nozzle to increase total proton dose, which has the added advantage of increasing patient throughput in one treatment session and requiring a more accurate beam-aiming system to minimize damage to healthy tissues caused by stray particles.
A third method involves employing double-scatter techniques, which use two layers of mirrors to reflect and scatter radiation and prevent any stray particles from reaching the tumor site. Although more difficult to implement, double scatter techniques can increase efficiency while shortening treatment times significantly.
Protons and deuterons offer exciting possibilities for radiosurgery applications. Many groups have successfully utilized this approach to treat animals as well as human patients using protons or deuterons as energy source particles.
Precision
Proton beams deliver the same amount of energy to tumors as an X-ray beam but with more accuracy. Less radiation is absorbed by healthy tissues or organs, potentially enabling higher doses to be delivered. This is especially helpful when treating tumors near crucial structures like spines, lungs or eyes.
Proton beam therapy may also be effective at treating cancers that do not respond well to standard radiotherapy, such as tumors in the head and neck region, since it produces less adverse side effects in this region.
Before starting treatment, an evaluation visit with your team will be necessary. This may take several days and involve CT or MRI scans that help the team plan your proton beam treatment. In addition to that, masks or body moulds may need to be worn if the area being treated involves your head or neck; you will have to remain still during this part of the process, which may cause anxiety; they will try their best to assist as much as they can such as providing ways of keeping you still or giving medication as needed.
Your treatment will take place in a special room equipped with a machine called a gantry that moves around you, so as not to feel confining or uncomfortable during treatment. However, stillness must be observed as your radiographers leave the room but will still be able to see and hear you through a video screen located elsewhere within the building.
Each treatment session typically lasts one hour, and you may receive three to eight treatments every week over three to eight weeks. While these sessions may seem time consuming and tiresome for children needing sedation during treatment sessions, most soreness will subside after just a few days after completion of these sessions – the affected area will usually recover soon enough!
Safety
Proton beam radiation therapy, more commonly referred to as proton beam therapy, offers an innovative form of cancer therapy using a beam of protons that targets tumor cells directly while sparing surrounding healthy tissues, potentially reducing side effects and side-effects.
Researchers developed a technique for increasing the efficiency of proton beams by minimizing particle loss, enabling clinicians to administer similar doses with reduced energy usage. Their solution utilizes a wedge device similar to what’s found at Fermilab’s Muon g-2 experiment and could potentially also be applied in applications such as head and neck cancer radiotherapy treatments.
Proton beams are generated using particle accelerators known as cyclotrons. Each of these particle accelerators produces proton beams of various energies depending on its intended use, allowing clinicians to tailor doses precisely against tumor shapes and sizes – this new approach to energy tuning offers great promise when treating patients who move during radiation treatments.
Proton beam therapy requires patients to lie on a comfortable table that is then moved beneath a machine. On day one of treatment, the patient will undergo a simulation test designed to ensure that the proton beam is accurately positioned over their tumor site; this positioning will then be repeated throughout treatment sessions so consistency is ensured. After this step has been completed, they will receive an immobilization mask designed to immobilize and protect from outside radiation during their therapy regimen.
Once the patient is settled in, a care team member will mark the area they plan to target with proton beam therapy and create an imaging map which can guide actual treatment. They may also design an immobilization device specifically tailored to help keep patients still during this process.
Time
An electromagnetic tracking system guides the proton beam directly to its target tumor site, where it stops inside it to deliver high doses of radiation to it without harming nearby normal tissue or having adverse side effects compared with traditional x-ray radiation therapy. Protons have significantly less of an effect on nearby healthy cells compared with their more conventional counterpart.
Therapy sessions typically last seven weeks. Each treatment session typically lasts 30-60 minutes and you will be asked to lie still throughout each treatment session on a cushioned table beneath a machine while being monitored with CT scan or x-ray images before each treatment session begins. Young children may receive general anaesthetic prior to beginning.
After your initial dry run (when all aspects of treatment have been reviewed), you will be provided with a treatment plan which outlines a timeline and schedule of your treatments. Your physician will explain what to expect from these sessions as well as answering any queries that arise during them.
Your treatments will occur five times weekly for three to six weeks at our center for an hour each time, while being positioned on our patient couch ensuring consistency of each session. We take special care in recording every precise movement of each treatment in our records to ensure its success and ensure consistent care delivery.
Proton beam therapy is administered by a radiotherapy team consisting of specialists in radiation oncology. As opposed to conventional external beam radiotherapy, proton beam therapy targets directly at the tumour for reduced damage to healthy surrounding tissues; additionally it can treat cancers close to vital organs, such as brains, spinal cords, eyes or hearts.
Clatterbridge Proton Beam Therapy Centre provides proton beam therapy treatments to people suffering from cancers such as uveal melanoma (eye cancer) and oesophageal or stomach cancer, as well as those suffering recurrent or residual benign meningiomas. Results of a recent trial demonstrate the viability of high energy proton beam therapy as an alternative treatment, offering better long-term tumor control and survival rates than existing therapies for meningiomas.
