Introduction The use of proton therapy for the treatment of cancer was first proposed by Robert Wilson in 1946. A beam of protons gives most of its dose at a fixed depth in the tissue known as the Bragg peak,…
Introduction Each year more than 90,000 women are diagnosed with a gynecologic (ovarian, vulvar, vaginal, cervical, uterine, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal) cancer in the United States. Radiotherapy is often used with curative intent with or without concurrent chemotherapy for…
Introduction Proton beam radiation (PBR) has the potential to improve the therapeutic ratio in the treatment of several gastrointestinal malignancies by decreasing the dose to nontarget critical structures. In general, radiotherapy to the abdomen and pelvis is challenging because of…
Introduction For both primary and metastatic brain tumors, radiation therapy (RT) remains one of the standard treatment modalities. Although RT techniques using photons have greatly improved in recent decades, substantial concerns remain among both physicians and patients regarding the potential…
Introduction Numerous planning studies demonstrate superior dosimetry for proton radiotherapy compared with photon-based radiotherapy for breast cancers of all stages, even compared with intensity-modulated radiotherapy. Protons can reduce dose to the heart by a factor of two to three compared…
Introduction Intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) can begin only after a number of other processes have been completed, including simulation and treatment planning. For both proton and photon treatments, radiation oncology has evolved to the point in which the treatment parameters,…
Introduction This chapter describes the physics quality assurance (QA) program for the proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) gantry of the Hitachi ProBeat machine (Hitachi America, Ltd., Tarrytown, NY) at the Proton Therapy Center University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center…
Intensity-modulated proton therapy is effective for complex targets Proton beam therapy (PBT), with its characteristic Bragg peak, holds the promise of further reducing toxicity. Several techniques exist for the administration of PBT, including passive scatter proton therapy (PSPT) and intensity-modulated…
Introduction Intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) using pencil beam scanning (PBS) technology is advancing rapidly for delivering precise and more conformal doses to target volumes while sparing surrounding normal and critical tissues. To fully use the advantages of IMPT, immobilization and…
Introduction In radiation oncology, “clinical commissioning,” or simply “commissioning,” refers to the process that takes place after a machine has passed acceptance tests but before the first patient can be treated. Commissioning tasks for proton therapy include but are not…