Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

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 …

Development And Implementation Of An Anthropomorphic Head & Neck Phantom For The Assessment Of Proton Therapy Treatment Procedures, Daniela Branco

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Proton therapy has been used to treat cancer for more than 50 years, and over the past decade, its use has grown rapidly. One of the main goals of modern radiation therapy is to deliver a high dose to the planning target volume (PTV) with minimal exposure and damage to the surrounding healthy tissue. Protons offer a unique advantage over photon radiotherapy in that they deposit dose over a finite range, in contrast to the more gradual energy deposition of photon and electron beams. At present, 23 proton centers are in operation in the United States and another 13 centers …