MO‐A‐201‐00: A Cliff's Notes Version of Proton Therapy

Proton therapy is a rapidly growing modality in the fight against cancer. From a high‐level perspective the process of proton therapy is identical to x‐ray based external beam radiotherapy. However, this course is meant to illustrate for x‐ray physicists the many differences between x‐ray and proton based practices. Unlike in x‐ray therapy, proton dose calculations use CT Hounsfield Units (HU) to determine proton stopping power and calculate the range of a beam in a patient. Errors in stopping power dominate the dosimetric uncertainty in the beam direction, while variations in patient position determine uncertainties orthogonal to the beam path. Mismatches between geometric and range errors lead to asymmetric uncertainties, and so while geometric uncertainties in x‐ray therapy are mitigated through the use of a Planning Target Volume (PTV), this approach is not suitable for proton therapy. Robust treatment planning and evaluation are critical in proton therapy, and will be discussed in this course. Predicting the biological effect of a proton dose distribution within a patient is also a complex undertaking. The proton therapy community has generally regarded the Radiobiological Effectiveness (RBE) of a proton beam to be 1.1 everywhere in the patient, but there are increasing data to suggest that the RBE probably climbs higher than 1.1 near the end of a proton beam when the energy deposition density increases. This lecture will discuss the evidence for variable RBE in proton therapy and describe how this is incorporated into current proton treatment planning strategies. Finally, there are unique challenges presented by the delivery process of proton therapy. Many modern systems use a spot scanning technique which has several advantages over earlier scattered beam designs. However, the time dependence of the dose deposition leads to greater concern with organ motion than with scattered protons or x‐rays. Image guidance techniques in proton therapy may also differ from standard x‐ray approaches, due to equipment design or the desire to maximize efficiency within a high‐cost proton therapy treatment room. Differences between x‐ray and proton therapy delivery will be described. Learning Objectives: 1. Understand how CT HU are calibrated to provide proton stopping power, and the sources of uncertainty in this process. 2. Understand why a PTV is not suitable for proton therapy, and how robust treatment planning and evaluation are used to mitigate uncertainties. 3. Understand the source and implications of variable RBE in proton therapy 4. Learn about proton specific challenges and approaches in beam delivery and image guidanceJon Kruse has a research grant from Varian Medical Systems related to proton therapy treatment plannning.; J. Kruse, Jon Kruse has a research grant with Varian Medical Systems related to proton therapy planning.