Physicists Provide 'Guiding Hands' For Proton Therapy
Wednesday, August 6, 2008 - 11:28
in Physics & Chemistry
Proton therapy offers great benefits as a treatment modality in radiation oncology for a variety of hard to treat tumors. While physicians manage the treatment of people, behind the scenes, proton physicists play a crucial role, providing support and guidelines for treatment planning for calculation of dose distributions, measurements of radiation delivery, measurements of proton beam data, quality assurance of all measuring equipment and of the proton accelerator, and calibration of proton beams, all essential to successful treatment outcomes.