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Assessing The Potential Clinical Impact Of Variable Biological Effectiveness In Proton Radiotherapy, Christopher R. Peeler Ph.D.
Assessing The Potential Clinical Impact Of Variable Biological Effectiveness In Proton Radiotherapy, Christopher R. Peeler Ph.D.
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
It has long been known that proton radiotherapy has an increased biological effectiveness compared to traditional x-ray radiotherapy. This arises from the clustered nature of DNA damage produced by the energy deposition of protons along their tracks in medium. This effect is currently quantified in clinical settings by assigning protons a relative biological effectiveness (RBE) value of 1.1 corresponding to 10% increased effectiveness compared to photon radiation. Numerous studies have shown, however, that the RBE value of protons is variable and can deviate substantially from 1.1, but experimental data on RBE and clinical evidence of its variability remains limited.
The …