Irini Youssef, Nader Mohamed, Daniel Kallini, Kaveh Zakeri, Haibo Lin, Dong Han, Hang Qi, Anton Nosov, Nadeem Riaz, Linda Chen, Yao Yu, Lara Ann Dunn, Eric J Sherman, Rick Wray, Heiko Schöder, Nancy Y Lee
INTRO: One main advantage of proton therapy versus photon therapy is its precise radiation delivery to targets without exit dose, resulting in lower dose to surrounding healthy tissues. This is critical given the proximity of head and neck tumors to normal structures. However, proton planning requires careful consideration of factors including air-tissue interface, anatomical uncertainties, surgical artifacts, weight fluctuations, rapid tumor response, and daily variations in setup and anatomy, as these heterogeneities can lead to inaccuracies in targeting and creating unwarranted hotspots to a greater extent than photon radiation...
March 16, 2024: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics