Who Will Benefit from Charged-Particle Therapy?

• Published in: Cancer research and treatment Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 621 - 634
• Main Authors: Kim, Kyung Su, Wu, Hong-Gyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) Korean Cancer Association 01.07.2021; 대한암학회
• Subjects: Cost-Benefit Analysis; Heavy Ion Radiotherapy - adverse effects; Heavy Ion Radiotherapy - economics; Heavy Ion Radiotherapy - methods; Humans; Incidence; Neoplasms - radiotherapy; Organs at Risk - radiation effects; Patient Selection; Photons - adverse effects; Radiation Injuries - epidemiology; Radiation Injuries - etiology; Special; Treatment Outcome; 의학일반; Carbon-ion radiotherapy; Charged-particle therapy; Proton beam therapy
• ISSN: 1598-2998; 2005-9256; 2005-9256
• DOI: 10.4143/crt.2021.299

Charged-particle therapy (CPT) such as proton beam therapy (PBT) and carbon-ion radiotherapy (CIRT) exhibit substantial physical and biological advantages compared to conventional photon radiotherapy. As it can reduce the amount of radiation irradiated in the normal organ, CPT has been mainly applied to pediatric cancer and radioresistent tumors in the eloquent area. Although there is a possibility of greater benefits, high set-up cost and dearth of high level of clinical evidence hinder wide applications of CPT. This review aims to present recent clinical results of PBT and CIRT in selected diseases focusing on possible indications of CPT. We also discussed how clinical studies are conducted to increase the number of patients who can benefit from CPT despite its high cost.