Proton Beam Radiation Therapy for Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

William M Mendenhall; Jonathan J Beitler; Nabil F Saba; Ashok R Shaha; Sandra Nuyts; Primož Strojan; Heleen Bollen; Oded Cohen; Robert Smee; Sweet Ping Ng; Avraham Eisbruch; Wai Tong Ng; Jessica M Kirwan; Alfio Ferlito

doi:10.14338/IJPT-22-00030.1

Proton Beam Radiation Therapy for Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Int J Part Ther. 2023 Apr 27;9(4):243-252. doi: 10.14338/IJPT-22-00030.1. eCollection 2023 Spring.

Authors

William M Mendenhall¹, Jonathan J Beitler², Nabil F Saba³, Ashok R Shaha⁴, Sandra Nuyts^{5

6}, Primož Strojan⁷, Heleen Bollen⁵, Oded Cohen⁸, Robert Smee⁹, Sweet Ping Ng¹⁰, Avraham Eisbruch¹¹, Wai Tong Ng¹², Jessica M Kirwan¹, Alfio Ferlito¹³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA.
² Harold Alfonds Center for Cancer Care, Maine General Hospital, Augusta, ME, USA.
³ Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁴ Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
⁵ Department of Radiation Oncology, Leuven Cancer Institute, University Hospitals Leuven, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁶ Laboratory of Experimental Radiotherapy, Department of Oncology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁷ Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
⁸ Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology, Soroka Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Affiliated with Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
⁹ Department of Radiation Oncology, The Prince of Wales Cancer Centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
¹⁰ Department of Radiation Oncology, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Centre, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia.
¹¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
¹² Department of Clinical Oncology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
¹³ Coordinator of the International Head and Neck Scientific Group, Padua, Italy.

Abstract

Purpose: To discuss the role of proton beam therapy (PBT) in the treatment of patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC).

Materials and methods: A review of the pertinent literature.

Results: Proton beam therapy likely results in reduced acute and late toxicity as compared with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The extent of the reduced toxicity, which may be modest, depends on the endpoint and technical factors such as pencil beam versus passive scattered PBT and adaptive replanning. The disease control rates after PBT are likely similar to those after IMRT.

Conclusion: Proton beam therapy is an attractive option to treat patients with OPSCC. Whether it becomes widely available depends on access.

Keywords: cancer outcomes; head and neck cancer; oropharynx; particle therapy.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

P30 CA008748/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States