
Current Opinion in Orthopaedics 2002; 13(6):434-439
<b>Proton beam therapy in the management of bone and soft tissue sarcomas</b>
Thomas F. DeLaney, MD

For cancer treatment, protons, the nuclei of hydrogen atoms, can be accelerated to high energies, extracted, and transported to treatment rooms where the proton beam undergoes a series of modifications (spreading, modulation, and shaping) that conform the dose in a particular patient to the tumor target. Because of their charge and mass, there is no dose delivered beyond the desired target. Proton beam therapy thus provides a means to reduce both the volume of irradiated normal tissues and the radiation dose they receive. This may permit higher doses to the tumor and achieve a higher tumor control probability without increasing the frequency or severity of treatment-related morbidity. Additionally, the more conformal treatment volumes of proton therapy should result in a reduced frequency and severity of comorbidity between radiation and chemotherapy, thus allowing for improved tolerance of the patient to therapy, better treatment compliance, and increased treatment intensity.


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