Treating Cancer with Proton Beam Therapy

Proton beam therapy is a treatment that is used for various types of cancer. It uses proton beams which irradiate the diseased tissue with a more precise direct radiation dosage on the tumor than other external beam radiotherapy treatments. This process uses ionizing radiation to target the cancerous tumor with charged proton particles, damaging the cancer cell's DNA which either kills the tissue or hinders its ability to expand and grow. Cancers have a very poor ability to repair damaged DNA, so this makes them vulnerable to this type of treatment due to their process of being able to grow at a high division rate.

Proton beam therapy was developed from physics research where the first particle accelerator was used in a treatment in 1954, this has since been developed into hospital based treatment centers in many parts of the world with the Loma Linda University Medical Center now being one of the larger treatment hospitals in the United States. The proton beam therapy is used to treat a number of different types of cancers ranging from prostate, lung, brain, spinal, head, neck, children's cancers, and several other types. The therapy provides a precise form of treatment which helps to minimize damage to healthy tissue and organs with less side effects than that of radiation or chemotherapy treatments.

Proton beam therapy works as an external source of treatment from an outside beam which penetrates the body, this beam is directed at the tumor in a way that causes as little damage as possible to any surrounding tissue or other organs. Its low entrance dose rate which is the area in front of the tumor minimizes damage, and is followed by the beams high dose rate which is organized to cover the whole of the tumor. This process does not have an exit dose so it does not damage further tissue and it doesn't have any problems with radiation exposure, so there is no radioactive risk afterwards. It has also been found that secondary cancers were fewer with proton beam therapy to that of radiation treatment in surrounding areas of tissue treated. This kind of treatment has been designed to help treat cancers that are deep inside the body or inside the skull area, where they are often inoperable with surgery.