Proton Beam Therapy out of reach for many with Cancer

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Health

Concept :

Cancer patients in India face twin challenges when it comes to accessing proton beam therapy (PBT): there are not enough facilities offering the treatment, and the cost can run into tens of lakhs of rupees.

Proton Beam Therapy (PBT)

Proton beam therapy (PBT) is an advanced form of radiotherapy, with radiation treatment delivered by accelerated proton beams rather than X-rays.
A proton beam delivers some radiation to healthy tissue in reaching the tumour but very little radiation beyond the edge of the tumour being treated.
This means PBT is able to treat cancers just as effectively but delivers less radiation to other healthy parts of the body which surround the tumour.

Significance

PBT is a newer technology that is designed to further reduce the amount of radiation that affects the surrounding normal tissue.
The Therapy enables a dose of high-energy protons to be precisely targeted at a tumour, reducing the damage to surrounding healthy tissues and vital organs which is an advantage in certain groups of patients or where the cancer is close to a critical part of the body such as the spinal cord.
PBT is being used increasingly to treat children with cancer. The chance of curing the cancer is no higher than with conventional radiotherapy but is likely to reduce the severity of the long-term side-effects, although it will not eliminate them altogether.
For adults, the main use of PBT has been to treat cancers close to parts of the body which are very sensitive to the damaging effects of radiation.
For example, PBT is used to treat certain cancers at the base of the skull, deep inside the head and close to the brain, and cancers of the spine which are close to the spinal cord.