OSU, cancer center join to train medical physicists

Proton therapy is a type of particle therapy that uses a precise beam of protons to irradiate a tumor site. Protons are large particles that can be manipulated to release their energy. The more energy, the deeper the protons can penetrate the body. Physicians can calculate the precise amount of proton energy needed to release radiation exactly at the tumor site. Less radiation reaches the healthy tissue on the front of the tumor, and virtually none of it reaches the healthy tissue behind the tumor. That means less damage to healthy tissue.

→About 60 percent (840,000) of new cancer patients annually will seek radiation therapy at some point during care.

→About 30 percent of the radiation patients — 250,000 — are patients who would benefit from proton therapy.

→Today’s five operating proton treatment centers can treat an estimate 6,000 patients annually.

Source: ProCure Treatment Centers, www.procure.com