Speaker
Description
Modern cancer treatment is largely a combination of 4 techniques: surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) is a more targeted version to conventional radiotherapy, where protons in the 60-250 MeV energy range are used to maximise the destructive radiation dose to cancerous tumours whilst minimising the damage to healthy tissue. The advantage of PBT is that dose can be delivered more precisely than conventional radiotherapy due to the way protons lose energy: as a result of the Bragg Peak, most of the energy is deposited in the last few millimetres of the proton path. This has particular significance in the treatment of deep-lying tumours in the head, neck and central nervous system, particularly for children whose bodies are still developing and are particularly susceptible to long-term radiation damage.
In 2018, the NHS opened the first of two high energy PBT centres at The Christie in Manchester to complement the ocular facility at Clatterbridge that has been treating with protons since 1989; this was followed in 2021 by UCLH. The current status of the three clinical facilities will be presented, as well as the ongoing clinical trials to support improvements in patient outcomes and potential expansion of the current indications list. In addition, there will be an overview of some of the research and development in particle therapy accelerator technology.
| Area of research | Applications of accelerators |
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