Proton Therapy

Proton Therapy

• What is proton therapy?

  Proton therapy is a relatively advanced tumor radiotherapy treatment technology in the world today. There is a killer trick in proton therapy called the Bragg Peak. After being accelerated by an accelerator, protons enter the human body at extremely high speeds, releasing very little energy along the way. When they reach the tumor, the highest energy is instantly released, forming the Bragg Peak. After penetrating the tumor, the radiation dose drops sharply, even to zero. Proton radiation can perform precise cutting like a surgical knife at the edge of a tumor, just like carving flowers on tofu, without causing surgical wounds. For patients, radiation therapy has become a non-invasive treatment method. Most patients only need to lie on the treatment bed for a few minutes at a time, and after taking the radiation, they can go home. Many patients do not need to be hospitalized.

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• Can children receive proton therapy?

  Proton therapy is very suitable for children. From an age perspective, proton therapy is very suitable for children, almost suitable for all age groups. If pediatric cancer patients meet the requirements of proton therapy, they may have an 85% chance of achieving clinical cure. Because proton radiotherapy has the advantages of high precision, targeted "explosion", and minimal damage to normal cells, it causes minimal damage to the surrounding normal tissues of the lesion. This therapy has fewer side effects and a lower recurrence rate for children's longer growth process, and is more beneficial for pediatric cancer patients. Children are more sensitive to radiation, and their long-term life and quality of life are very important. Of course, if they can eat less radiation, they choose not to. Especially for children with brain tumors, if they meet the indications, the use of this treatment method can greatly reduce the accumulation of radiation during radiotherapy, effectively control the radiation dose in key areas of the child's brain, and be beneficial to the health of the child's tissues.

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• How long does proton therapy take?

  The process of proton emission to the tumor takes 1 minute, and the entire treatment process takes about 3 minutes. Adjusting the appropriate posture takes about 25 minutes, so the time required for a single treatment is about 30 minutes. After treatment, patients can leave the treatment center and engage in normal daily activities. The length of the treatment cycle depends on the tumor itself and its location. Generally, treatment is required 5 days per week for 4-6 weeks.

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• Can proton therapy be used for metastatic lung cancer?

  In the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, whether the lesion has metastasis is an important factor affecting prognosis. When metastatic cancer lesions are discovered, there must also be microscopic lesions, which cannot be confirmed through imaging examination. Therefore, this situation is usually not suitable for local therapy. However, there is a very special type of metastasis, which can still be treated with surgery or radiotherapy, even though distant metastasis has already occurred. It is called "oligometastasis". 1. The applicable standards for proton therapy for metastatic lung cancer do not limit the type of primary cancer, but require that there be no more than 3 metastatic lesions, including the primary lesion, without any other obvious lesions (the primary lesion has already been treated). 2. Compared with targeted X-ray irradiation, proton therapy has the advantage of reducing the radiation range to the lungs and reducing the risk of lung dysfunction. Therefore, it can also be applied in cases of low lung function and multiple metastases. In addition, proton therapy has good therapeutic effects on lung metastases from radiation resistant tumors such as colorectal cancer, kidney cancer, and thyroid cancer.

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• Can liver cancer be treated with proton therapy?

  The preferred treatment for primary liver cancer is surgery, but most patients are already in the middle and late stages of treatment, losing the opportunity for surgery. For patients who cannot undergo surgical resection or are unwilling to undergo invasive treatment, radiation therapy has become a new option. Some liver cancer patients who cannot be surgically removed may have their tumors shrink or decline after receiving radiation therapy, which can be converted to surgical resection. Postoperative adjuvant radiation therapy can also reduce local recurrence or distant metastasis of lesions and prolong the tumor free survival of patients. Radiation therapy for liver cancer has been abandoned due to the limitations of traditional radiation therapy techniques, mainly because the normal liver tolerance dose (30Gy for the whole liver) is much lower than the tumor lethal dose (50-70Gy). Not only is the tumor dose insufficient, but it can also lead to radiation hepatitis, causing short-term death of patients with high risk and poor efficacy. Unlike traditional radiotherapy, proton therapy can concentrate more radiation dose on the lesion site, resulting in a more significant therapeutic effect. At the same time, proton therapy causes less radiation damage to surrounding normal liver tissue and tissues along the path of radiation entering the human body. It also has less radiation dose on the kidneys, stomach, intestines, and heart, effectively reducing the toxic side effects of radiotherapy on the human body.

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• How long will the radiation remain in the body after proton therapy?

  Once proton radiation is transmitted to the tumor site, energy is rapidly released and even drops to zero, with minimal residual energy in the body. Once treatment is completed, the patient can leave the treatment room without any risk of radiation exposure to others.

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• How is proton radiation different from traditional photon radiation?

  The main difference between proton therapy and radiotherapy is that proton therapy utilizes proton particles for targeted treatment, reducing damage to healthy tissues. 1. Energy transfer method: Radiotherapy uses X-rays or gamma rays, while proton therapy uses proton particles. Proton particles have specific energy deposition peaks, which can release more energy within tumor tissue and reduce damage to surrounding healthy tissues. 2. Treatment accuracy: Proton therapy has higher accuracy and accuracy. Due to the characteristics of proton particles, the depth and intensity of the proton beam can be more precisely controlled, enabling treatment to more accurately locate and irradiate tumor tissue, reducing damage to normal tissue. 3. Side effects: Compared to radiotherapy, proton therapy can significantly reduce the occurrence of side effects. Due to the better control of proton beams in releasing energy within the tumor area and reducing damage to normal tissues, patients may experience fewer side effects such as nausea and vomiting after receiving proton therapy.

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• The many advantages of proton therapy

  Proton therapy is actually a type of radiation therapy. Unlike traditional radiation therapy, proton therapy uses a synchrotron, where protons are accelerated to about 70% of the speed of light before being ingested into the human body. Radiation only releases a small amount of energy before reaching the tumor tissue, and all energy is released during the process of entering and passing through the tumor tissue, rapidly decelerating to zero. It is equivalent to saying that the tissue at the front of the tumor is less damaged, while the deep tissue is almost unaffected by radiation. This energy release mode is known as the "Bragg Peak", and its destructive effect on tumor tissue can be described as three-dimensional directional blasting. Proton therapy has the same effect as radiation therapy, but the side effects have been reduced by more than 60%! Even when compared to advanced photon emission technology, its effectiveness is far inferior to proton therapy. Proton therapy only requires 50% of the dose of photon therapy, which can provide equal or higher therapeutic effects on the tumor target area, and can reduce the side effects on normal tissues by 60%. In addition to high accuracy and fewer side effects, proton therapy also has many advantages: it has a small burden on the body, and elderly or frail patients can also receive treatment; Can reduce the incidence of secondary primary cancer in children and young patients after radiotherapy; Patients who are unable to undergo surgical treatment due to complications can also receive proton beam therapy; No hospitalization is required, just go to the hospital outpatient department for treatment; No discomfort such as pain during irradiation; After treatment, it is unlikely to hinder the recovery of normal social and daily life, and can maintain a good quality of life.

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