Why in news?
Progress on photon therapy in India was reported in Rajya Sabha.
What is this?
- A proton is a positively charged particle.
- At high energy, protons can destroy cancer cells.
- Doctors may use proton therapy alone or may also combine it with x-ray radiation therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, and/or immunotherapy.
- Like x-ray radiation, proton therapy is a type of external-beam radiation therapy.
- It painlessly delivers radiation through the skin from a machine outside the body.
- A machine called a synchrotron or cyclotron speeds up protons.
- The high speed of the protons creates high energy.
- This energy makes the protons travel to the desired depth in the body.
- The protons then give the targeted radiation dose in the tumor.
- With proton therapy, there is less radiation dose outside of the tumor.
- In regular radiation therapy, x-rays continue to give radiation doses as they leave the person’s body thus damages nearby healthy tissues, possibly causing side effects.
