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Updated: May 7, 2026

Proton Therapy Delivery and Its Clinical Application in Select Solid Tumor Malignancies
Published on: February 6, 2019
New strategies in radiation therapy: exploiting the full potential of protons
Radhe Mohan1, Anita Mahajan, Bruce D Minsky
1Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Medical Physics and Radiation Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
Abstract:
Protons provide significant dosimetric advantages compared with photons because of their unique depth-dose distribution characteristics. However, they are more sensitive to the effects of intra- and intertreatment fraction anatomic variations and uncertainties in treatment setup. Furthermore, in the current practice of proton therapy, the biologic effectiveness of protons relative to photons is assumed to have a generic fixed value of 1.1. However, this is a simplification, and it is likely higher in different portions of the proton beam. Current clinical practice and trials have not fully exploited the unique physical and biologic properties of protons. Intensity-modulated proton therapy, with its ability to manipulate energies (in addition to intensities), provides an entirely new dimension, which, with ongoing research, has considerable potential to increase the therapeutic ratio.
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