Medical Technology

Proton beam therapy: more than a leap of faith?

BMJ 2012; 345 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e4917 (Published 5 September 2012)
Cite this as: BMJ 2012;345:e4917

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9 September 2012

Editor

Proton beam therapy uses protons to treat tumor cells mostly cancer patients. It has an advantage over other treatment procedures because it is accurate in localizing radiation dosage. The beams of protons do not scatter to the sides of the tissue because it does not broaden as much. The surrounding tissues have reported low level of damages to tissue surrounding it. However, most treatments use protons with different energies that have variant Bragg peaks and at different depths. Spread-Out Bragg Peak is the total dosage of radiation of protons, and it affects the tissues lying shallow or in front of the tumor cells(Khan 2010).

I thank the authors to reflecting on the current difficulties surrounding the proton beam therapy.

It should also be highlighted that there has been an improvement in pencil scan treatment to sensitive organs such as eye and spinal cord with reduced damages. additional research is mandatory to improve the evidence based approach behind proton beam therapy.

References
1-Khan, F. (2010). The physics of radiation therapy. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Competing interests: None declared

ngongang paulin, senior house officer

Hwel Dda Nhs Trust, prince philip hospital

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