scope:

Abstract

The topics covered here include the rationale for and the history of proton therapy, radiation biology, proton-beam delivery and properties, dosimetry, geometric and dose-volume terms, treatment planning, uncertainties in dose delivery, motion management, quality assurance, prescribing and recording and reporting treatment. In addition, six clinical examples of proton beam therapy are provided to illustrate the application of the recommendations contained in this report.

Recommendations in the report include the use of a generic RBE (relative biological effectiveness) value of 1.1 and the adoption of the IAEA TRS (Technical Report Series) 398 code of practice as the standard proton dosimetry protocol. The concept of RBE-weighted absorbed dose (DRBE, the product of proton absorbed dose, D, and proton RBE) is introduced to estimate the photon dose that would produce the same therapeutic effect as the proton absorbed dose, D, given under identical conditions.

As the present report describes in some detail the radiobiological, physical, technical, treatment planning and clinical aspects of proton beam therapy, it should be a useful reference for current practitioners and should also provide new and potential users, as well as other interested readers, with the basic background to enable them to understand the techniques involved in proton therapy.