How Does Proton Beam Therapy Help Treat Cancer?

Proton beam therapy is coming to Australia – but how exactly can it help treat cancer patients?

The country’s first proton beam therapy centre, offering cancer patients potentially life-saving treatment,  will be built within the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute in 2020.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust is the first UK hospital to offer proton therapy on the National Health Service. But how does proton therapy work and how could it be of value to patients?

Medical physicist Ranald Mackay from the Trust has explained why, in specific cases, protons offer advantages over conventional radiation therapy based on high-energy X-rays and how young cancer patients may particularly benefits from this treatment.

Check out the video courtesy Physics World here.

For more information on how radiation therapy can help treat cancer, check out Targeting Cancer’s resources here.