Modified radiotherapy is less likely to damage healthy cells

Washington: A recent study proposed a modified method for concentrating the radiation therapy dose in the tumor while minimizing damage to healthy cells.

The study – published in the journal Scientific Reports – suggests that focusing high energy particle beams onto a small spot deep within the body could potentially allow clinicians to accurately target the cancerous tumor.

External radiotherapy involves treating patients with high-energy X-rays or particle beams. The tumor cells are killed by radiation, which is usually administered in several fractions, which are applied daily for several weeks.

Professor Dino Jaroszynski, who led the project, said, "About half of the population will suffer from cancer at some point in their lives. Half of these people will be treated with radiotherapy or a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. "

One of the challenges of radiotherapy is to deposit a high dose of radiation so that the dose is perfectly "consistent" with the tumor, so that all cancer cells are killed while avoiding damage to healthy cells.

Our study showed that we could very simply focus the radiation on a tumor to irradiate it while reducing the dose in the surrounding healthy tissue. "

One of the disadvantages of using radiotherapy X-rays is that these are absorbed by the body and their effects diminish, resulting in a high dose of entry. Proximal and distal doses before and after the tumor can also be as high as or greater than the radiation dose in the tumor.

To eradicate the tumor with sufficient radiation to kill all the tumor cells, the x-ray beam is often rotated while pointing the tumor in different directions, while the patient remains motionless.

An effective radiotherapy modality uses heavier particles such as protons and ions. These have the advantage of radiation doses that can be confined to a small area called "Bragg Peak".

"This work presents a comprehensive numerical study of the fundamental problems encountered in the treatment of cancer with very high energy electrons for a wide range of geometries. The results suggest that the technology and beam transport systems commonly used in high-energy particle accelerators could find direct application in this area, by expanding the range of tools available for radiation therapy, "said the Dr. Enrico Brunetti, one of the researchers of the study.

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