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 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…
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…