Explore the differences between proton therpay and traditional radiotherapy
Contributed by: Dr Looi Wen Shen, Dr Wong Ru Xin, Dr Shaun Ho
Differences Between Proton Therapy and Traditional Radiation Therapy
What is radiotherapy?
Radiotherapy involves the use of ionizing radiation to target and destroy cancer cells or shrink tumors. Modern radiotherapy aims to maximize the effectiveness of treatment while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues. Radiotherapy can be given externally, internally or with radionuclides.
Proton Therapy Radiotherapy
Proton beam therapy uses proton particles, positively charged particles, to precisely target and treat cancer cells, with minimal exit dose in normal organs, distal to the tumour. It is often used in the treatment of complex cancers such as in the head and neck, brain, liver, and in childhood cancers. I
Newer technologies use strong magnets and complex computer algorithms to create a modulated plan for shaping of radiation doses. These technologies and software, together with your radiation oncologists’ expertise, will customise a treatment plan that is an optimal combination of beam angles and intensities, creating a treatment that delivers the highest probability of tumour control balancing with normal organs toxicities.
See our proton therapy guide.
Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) and Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT)
Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT): allows for the modulation of X-ray radiation beams in order to optimise target coverage and sparing of normal organs. This is achieved through the use of advanced computer algorithms and multiple radiation beams.
Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT): VMAT is a form of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) uses x-rays that are shaped to form a conformal treatment target. Instead of multiple fields, the treatment is delivered continuously in arcs, resulting in faster treatment times compared to IMRT. It is known for its shorter treatment times, increased treatment accuracy, and improved sparing of critical structures, contributing to more effective and patient-friendly radiation therapy.
Stereotactic Techniques
Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy (SABR), and Stereotactic Radiosurgery refer to techniques using precise imaging techniques to guide high doses with high conformality to tumours. Radiosurgery uses only one fraction, akin to ‘surgery’, whereas the other stereotactic techniques use multiple sessions, usually up to 5.
3-Dimensional Radiotherapy
3D Conformal Radiotherapy: utilizes CT imaging to create a three-dimensional map of the tumor and normal organs in order to create a customized radiation treatment plan. It is an older technique and is used only for simple indications such as breast radiotherapy. Used commonly these days in straightforward breast radiotherapy, and in palliative indications for large tumours. The advent of 3D-CRT has paved the way for further developments in radiation therapy, such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT)
Proton Therapy For Southeat Asian Countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vientam
We offer a full range of radiotherapy services to both local and regional patients in neighbouring countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam). Special Proton Therapy packages are available for these countries. Please contact us for more information.
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