Articles
Advancement of Proton Therapy in Cancer Treatment in India
by Akash Sharma Akash SharmaAccording to all doctors who specialize in surgical carcinoma, including Dr. Sidharth Sahni, if proton treatment is applied alongside chemotherapy effectively, it may be very potent indeed.
The diseased organ, the liver, the kidney, the breast is irradiated with a beam of protons, thereby eradicating the unwanted tissues. However, the range of the beam and the depth of penetration is much less, which avoids the healthy cells. In radiotherapy, which involves electromagnetic rays, this effect cannot be achieved. Therefore, it can be said that proton treatment is the breakthrough in a modern development in surgical carcinoma.
How Does Proton Therapy Work?
A particle accelerator is utilized, its target being a polyp, a cyst or a malignant tumour. Charged, ionized particles in the form of a focused beam of protons destroy the DNA of tissues, hindering their rapid multiplication, thus removing the tumour in its entirety. Proton energy beams can match the shape of the cancerous tumour, sparing nearby organs, which is impossible in photon treatment where the cells in the vicinity are exposed to harmful radiation.
The Mechanism of Proton Therapy
Isochronous cyclotrons are used while treating cancer patients who undergo proton therapy. These cyclotrons bombard molecules, rather, atoms in order to produce isotopes that emit positrons that are short-lived. Cyclotrons are not bulky and easily fit hospitals and diagnostics centres because electromagnets made from coiled wires of superconductors are used. But they must be stored in cryogenic rooms for PET imaging.
The beams used for proton treatment are as thin as a pencil which is swept over the tumour laterally so that it can suit its form and size and penetrate its core just right. The pencil-like beam is achieved using magnets, not apertures. Several beams are focused from many directions to conform to the tumour layer by layer as the pencil beam of protons is run through.
Proton Therapy in India
In recent years, proton therapy has shown oncologists new hope in the form of lesser side effects from exposure to ionic radiation, which may result in other forms of cancer. India has become the 16th nation that uses proton treatment, with the Apollo institution in Delhi and Mumbai being the first establishment to heal patients with a beam of protons.
Conclusion
In the case of both X-ray treatment and proton treatment, the radiation types penetrate the cells underneath the skin. The photon is chargeless and massless, and thus it possesses the property of being extremely penetrating. Tumours are usually present deep within a patient's body, but the photon beam eventually loses energy starting from 0.5 cm to 3 cm of skin. Hence, the healthy tissues are the ones that are exposed to the radiation and not the actual tumour.
Conversely, protons are heavy and also charged; their energy can be controlled by the cyclotron. It can go as deep as 32 cm, thereby encompassing the tumour in its entirety. The malignant tumour absorbs the dosage as the velocity decreases the deeper the beam goes, reaching the Bragg peak, the highest dose.
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About Akash Sharma 
Akash Sharma
2 connections, 0 recommendations, 122 honor points.Joined APSense since, May 8th, 2019, From Delhi, India.
Created on Dec 1st 2021 01:21. Viewed 249 times.
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