Proton Beam Therapy

Treating cancer while sparing healthy tissue.

Conventional radiation therapy.

Passes all the way through the body, affecting neighboring tissues/organs.

Proton beam therapy.

Targets the tumor and stops.

• High-dosage radiation therapy
• Precise delivery to tumor cells
• Spares nearby healthy tissues/organs

This allows effective treatment of cancers in or near critical organs, reduces side effects for patients, and is especially important for treating children with cancer.

How it works.

• Precision targeting:

  Delivers radiation directly into the tumor, leaving surrounding tissue intact.

• Destroy the entire tumor:

  Intensity Modulated Pencil Beam Scanning, the most advanced proton beam therapy, conforms to the shape of the tumor. It scans across the tumor, essentially painting it with radiation.

• Shattering the cancer's DNA:

  Proton beam renders the cancer cells unable to reproduce.

The science of saving lives.

1. A proton beam starts with water.
2. The hydrogen atom is removed from the water molecule.
3. The atom is an electric charge.
4. A synchrotron uses magnets to accelerate these protons to 2/3 the speed of light.
5. Protons travel down the beam line into treatment rooms.
6. The proton beam is delivered precisely into tumor cells.

The benefits of proton beam therapy.

• Minimal radiation exposure to healthy tissues and organs.
• Fewer treatments for some cancers due to higher dose per treatment.
• Pediatric patients experience fewer long-term effects.

Sources: MayoClinic.org.