Abstract
Proton beams offer a therapeutic advantage of having a steep dose falloff at the end of their path. While a proton is moving fast, it typically has a small sphere of influence as a charged particle and has a relative biological effectiveness (RBE) similar to, but slightly higher than photons. As a proton slows, the linear energy transfer greatly increases until it reaches the Bragg peak, when it releases a great amount of energy and then subsequently the energy falls off rapidly to zero. In order to be clinically useful, the Bragg peak must be spread out. This is accomplished with a modulator wheel. Protons are typically generated from a cyclotron, a synchrocyclotron, or a synchrotron. The beam created from these devices can be further modulated to fit the clinical need.
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Chang, D.S., Lasley, F.D., Das, I.J., Mendonca, M.S., Dynlacht, J.R. (2021). Protons. In: Basic Radiotherapy Physics and Biology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61899-5_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61899-5_18
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