Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer - Cancer Network

Proton therapy has been used in the treatment of cancer for over 50 years. Due to its unique dose distribution with its spread-out Bragg peak, proton therapy can deliver highly conformal radiation to cancers located adjacent to critical normal structures. One of the important applications of its use is in prostate cancer, since the prostate is located adjacent to the rectum and bladder. Over 30 years of data have been published on the use of proton therapy in prostate cancer; these data have demonstrated high rates of local and biochemical control as well as low rates of urinary and rectal toxicity. Although before 2000 proton therapy was available at only a couple of centers in the United States, several new proton centers have been built in the last decade. With the increased availability of proton therapy, research on its use for prostate cancer has accelerated rapidly. Current research includes explorations of dose escalation, hypofractionation, and patient-reported quality-of-life outcomes. Early results from these studies are promising and will likely help make proton therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer more cost-effective. Introduction Proton therapy (PT) has been used in the management of cancer for over 50 years. The unique pattern of radiation dose deposition associated with protons—the characteristic spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP)—was recognized as early as the 1950s as a tool that radiation oncologists could use to deliver highly conformal radiotherapy to cancers located adjacent to critical organs. Until 1991, PT was only available at physics research centers; these facilities typically offered relatively low-energy protons delivered through a fixed beam, so clinical applications were limited. The prostate, with its close proximity to the rectum, bowel, and bladder, was recognized early on as an ideal site for the application of PT. At the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, PT was used as a “boost” to conventional radiation therapy in prostate cancer as early as the late 1970s.[1] The first clinically dedicated facility opened at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California in 1991, complete with sufficiently high-energy protons to penetrate to central tumors, with a gantry system to deliver PT from any angle, and offering treatment of prostate cancer solely with PT. Early results of PT from these two institutions have been promising, leading to a burgeoning interest in PT for prostate cancer at other institutions that have acquired PT. While there is much theoretical and early clinical promise, many questions remain regarding the degree of potential benefit and the cost-effectiveness of PT in prostate cancer. This review discusses the rationale, history, and current status of PT for prostate cancer—and controversies regarding it. Rationale: The Physics of Proton Therapy and X-Ray Therapy The patterns of radiation dose deposition in tissue associated with PT and X-ray therapy (XRT) differ significantly. With XRT, most X-rays pass through the patient, depositing radiation energy along the beam path and leaving a track of radiation damage, much like that left by a bullet, from the skin surface through which the beam enters to the skin surface through which it exits. Because the X-rays in these interactions are absorbed, the dose deposited along the beam path is reduced gradually as the X-ray beam passes through the patient. Since radiation damage is proportional to dose and not specific to cancer cells, this pattern of dose deposition with X-rays delivers more dose to nontargeted normal tissue. This unnecessary dose to the nontargeted normal tissue contributes considerably to the “integral dose” (dose deposited in the entire patient body). Historically, there have been two basic strategies for dealing with the problem of integral dose with X-rays: 1) the use of higher-energy X-rays, which reduces the dose to normal tissues within the first few centimeters of the entrance path, and 2) the use of additional X-ray beams whose paths overlap only over the targeted tumor, which increases the dose to the cancer relative to the dose to any particular section of normal nontargeted tissue, at the expense of exposing more normal tissue to low doses of radiation. This second strategy is the basis for three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT), stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), Cyberknife, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), imageguided IMRT, and volumetric modulated arc therapy. Most XRT for prostate cancer is delivered with an IMRT technique. IMRT is a sophisticated XRT technique that employs multiple radiation beams aimed at the target from different directions, with the beams varying in size and shape during treatment delivery to create a highly conformal radiation dose distribution in which the volume of tissue receiving a “high” dose of radiation conforms precisely to the three-dimensional (3D) volume of the target. This technique is a significant improvement over simpler, conventional radiation therapy techniques used historically, which deliver a high radiation dose to a volume of tissue that is much larger and less conformal—and that thus includes substantially more normal tissue. However, because of the increased number of X-ray beams used with IMRT, a much larger volume of non-targeted tissue receives low radiation doses than is the case with the simpler conventional radiation therapy techniques. With IMRT, as in other XRT techniques based on overlapping beams, integral dose is redistributed over a larger volume of nontargeted tissue compared with simpler historical techniques, but it is not reduced. In contrast to X-rays, protons have mass and thus do not travel an infinite distance; rather, they stop in tissue at a distance proportional to their acceleration. In addition, protons are 1,800 times as heavy as electrons, the primary subatomic particles with which they collide. Unlike X-rays, which Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer Cancer Network http://www.cancernetwork.com/print/article/10165/1875459 1 of 6 6/13/11 12:40 PM