Nuclear Medicine & Radiation Therapy

Proton Radiotherapy for Childhood Tumors: an Overview of Early Clinical Results

Abstract

Barbara Rombi, Shannon M MacDonald, Amichetti Maurizio, Nancy J Tarbell and Torunn I Yock

Radiation therapy (RT) is an important part of a multidisciplinary treatment for many pediatric tumors and has been integral to the improvement in disease control seen over the past few decades. However, long-term survivors experience late morbidity related to RT. Proton radiation therapy is an emerging type of radiotherapy that can mitigate the incidence of acute and late side effects by minimizing the dose of radiation to normal tissues with a significant reduction of integral dose compared with photons. Furthermore, true clinical advantages are now being measured and published in the medical literature, showing both excellent disease control rates and reduction of late effects. The purpose of this review is to summarize the early clinical outcomes after proton radiotherapy in childhood available in the literature.