Proton beam therapy for liver cancers

Michael Chuong; Adeel Kaiser; Jason Molitoris; Alejandra Mendez Romero; Smith Apisarnthanarax

doi:10.21037/jgo.2019.04.02

Proton beam therapy for liver cancers

J Gastrointest Oncol. 2020 Feb;11(1):157-165. doi: 10.21037/jgo.2019.04.02.

Authors

Michael Chuong¹, Adeel Kaiser², Jason Molitoris², Alejandra Mendez Romero³, Smith Apisarnthanarax⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, Miami Cancer Institute, Miami, FL, USA.
² Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Maryland and Maryland Proton Treatment Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.
³ Department of Radiation Oncology, Erasmus Medical Center and Holland Proton Therapy Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
⁴ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.

Abstract

Proton beam therapy (PBT) delivers less dose to nearby normal organs compared to X-ray therapy (XRT), which is particularly relevant for treating liver cancers given that both mean and low liver dose are among the most significant predictors of radiation induced liver disease (RILD). High-dose PBT has been shown to achieve excellent long-term tumor control with minimal toxicity in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Increasing data support ablative PBT for patients with unresectable cholangiocarcinoma or liver metastases, especially those with larger tumors not suitable for XRT.

Keywords: Proton beam therapy (PBT); cholangiocarcinoma; hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); liver metastases.

Publication types

Review