A CT scan will be performed pay day loan to create a virtual model of your tumor, and other imaging procedures may be used to help determine its exact shape and location. Your doctor will give online loans specific instructions online loans on the type of exam being performed. Protons are atoms online loans carry a positive charge. Just as x-rays (also known as photons) are used to treat both benign and malignant tumors, protons beams can be used to irradiate tumors in a similar way.
There is no significant difference in the biological effects of protons versus photons (x-rays). However, protons deliver a dose of radiation in a much more confined way to the tumor tissue than photons.
After they enter the body, protons release most of their energy within the tumor region and, unlike photons, deliver only a minimal dose beyond the tumor boundaries. Therefore, especially for smaller tumor sizes, the dose of radiation may conform much tighter to the tumor and there may be less damage to healthy tissue.
As a result, the treating physician (a radiation oncologist) can potentially give an even greater dose to the tumor while minimizing unwanted side effects.
This is especially important when treating children, because protons help reduce radiation to growing and developing tissues.
Proton therapy is being used to treat tumors in these areas of the body with encouraging early results:As with other forms of external beam therapy, proton beam therapy requires a treatment team, online loans a radiation oncologist, radiation physicist, dosimetrist, radiation therapist, and nurse. The radiation oncologist is a specially trained physician who evaluates the patient and determines the appropriate therapy, specific area for treatment, and radiation dose.
Working together, the radiation oncologist, radiation physicist, dosimetrist and radiation therapist establish the best way to deliver the prescribed dose. Imaging exams are critical in online loans this treatment, and a diagnostic radiologist plays an important role as well.
The radiation physicist and the dosimetrist make detailed treatment calculations to ensure treatment will be accurately delivered. Radiation therapists are specially trained technologists who perform the daily radiation treatments.
Radiation therapy nurses are team members who tend to your day-to-day concerns and help to manage the side effects of the treatment. Proton beam therapy uses special machines, a cyclotron and synchrotron being the most common, to generate and accelerate protons to speeds up to 60 percent the speed of light and energies of up to 250 million electron volts.
These high-energy protons are steered by magnets toward the treatment room, and then to the specific part of the body being treated. In some older proton machines, additional pieces of equipment are needed to modify the range of the protons and the shape of the beam. Newer facilities make similar adjustments by fine tuning the energy of the beam and the magnetic fields which guide their path ("pencil beam scanning" or "scanning beam").
These modifications guide the proton beam to precise locations in the body where they deliver the energy needed to destroy tumor cells. With backgrounds in mechanical, electrical, software, hardware and controls, specialized operators maintain, upgrade and repair the accelerators (i. As with other forms of external beam radiation therapy, such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), specially trained radiation therapists will be present in the treatment rooms to help patients get set up for treatment, deliver the treatment, and monitor patients closely to ensure safety and comfort during the procedure.
See the IMRT page for more information. Several preparation steps are needed before a patient begins proton therapy. Sometimes, there is a need for placement of a metallic marker (fiducial marker) in or around the tumor to help guide the treatment.
If necessary, these procedures are usually performed a few days before the simulation. The patient immobilization device used depends upon the location of the tumor. For treatments above the neck, a custom mask can be placed around the face, or custom tray that can be temporarily attached to the teeth. For treatments below the neck, custom molds of various shapes can be positioned under or around the body. Once the immobilization device is constructed, patients undergo a computed tomography (CT) scan, which is used to create a virtual, 3-D reconstruction of the tumor and normal tissues around it.
Radiation oncologists define the boundaries of the tumor and the surrounding normal structures within this virtual computerized 3-D model, and work with physicists to determine the safest and most effective radiation techniques. This CT scan is performed in exactly the same position as for treatment, so the radiation oncologist can be sure the high-precision plan designed in the computer will accurately target the tumor.
Proton beam therapy is typically performed on an outpatient basis. For most tumor sites, a standard course of treatment is two to eight weeks, with treatments delivered five days per week. The length of each treatment will vary depending upon the tumor type and stage. The delivery of the proton beam to the patient lasts only a few minutes, although the total time spent in the treatment room will be longer (about 15 to 30 minutes) for positioning and adjustments to the equipment settings.
For daily treatments, the patient enters the treatment room and is fitted with his or her personal immobilization device.
The patient is positioned with the aid of laser lights to within a few millimeters of the needed position, which by comparison with images obtained at the time of simulation to ensure the patient is properly aligned.
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