In January, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania published their landmark study which shows that proton beam therapy offers dramatically fewer side effects in patients when compared to conventional radiotherapy and chemotherapy. While the treatment, already in place across the world in private and public healthcare centres, had previously been shown to have a lesser severity in side effects, the study will help to improve awareness of proton beam therapy and its availability to patients in all circumstances.
Often, when receiving cancer treatment via conventional radiotherapy, there is no pain or discomfort patients find while receiving the treatment. However, the side effects experienced in the short and long-term can be debilitating, with fatigue and nausea heading up the list and understandably an uncomfortable experience that makes day to day activity challenging.
Proton beam therapy has only been made readily accessible in the last few years for many patients, first through private radiotherapy centres in the UK and gradually rolling out to public healthcare facilities. This study will help encourage decision makers to have more confidence in the benefits of proton beam therapy and potentially make it more widely and commonly available for cancer patients.
What is Proton Beam Therapy?
Proton beam therapy isn’t a new treatment, but it also hasn’t been in place for as long as other traditional cancer treatments, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It makes use of particles known as ‘protons’ that are fired into the cancerous cells to interrupt their growth and division and eventually cause the death of the cell. It differs to conventional radiotherapy, which uses photons (x-rays) as the protons can have their maximum travel depth adjusted according to the location of the tumour.
This means that the beam releases the peak of its energy in the tumour, reducing the amount of radiation that reaches surrounding healthy cells and leading to less severe side effects. Not only great for providing an improvement to the quality of life experienced by patients having cancer treatments. This makes proton beam therapy the preferred treatment method for treating cancers in extremely sensitive locations such as in the brain, head, neck, spine and other delicate bodily systems that could be negatively impacted by receiving radiation.
Additionally, proton beam therapy is an excellent treatment for use with childhood cancers where the risk of long-term and serious side effects due to developing tissues receiving a dose of radiation is high.
The Benefits of Proton Beam Therapy Outside of Treatment
Proton beam therapy offers numerous benefits, not only to the patients that receive it, but to the whole healthcare system. While purchasing and installing a quality proton beam therapy machine is an expensive and long process requiring plenty of safety measures in place, it is a highly targeted treatment that can provide relief to currently struggling healthcare centres.
A high patient to consultant ratio has put lots of strain on healthcare providers who are already understaffed. Proton beam therapy as a highly targeted treatment means that patients can receive higher doses per treatment session and take much less time to complete their entire cancer treatment plan compared to conventional radiotherapy. This allows specialist cancer centres to provide treatment to a greater number of patients each year, reducing the strain of cancer services and ensuring patients get seen quicker.
The Future of Proton Beam Therapy
Proton beam therapy isn’t a cure-all for cancer, it just advances on the current treatments we have that have unfavourable side effects and impact quality of life. It can provide patients a cancer journey with fewer side effects and potentially fewer treatments however like all treatments, every patient’s circumstances are unique to them and even two patients with the same cancer type may be offered entirely different treatment plans and lengths.