Proton beam therapy should be more readily available to optimise the care of patients with cancer, according to Professor Roger Taylor and Melanie Kay
Radiotherapy is an important curative component of treatment for nearly half of all patients with cancer.1 Proton beam therapy (PBT) is a specialised form of targeted radiotherapy in which a beam of high‑energy protons is precisely targeted at a tumour.2 For over 60 years, high-energy photons (X-rays) have been used as the standard ionising radiotherapy modality for most patients treated for cancer.1 However, in selected groups of patients, there is increasing use of particle therapy—predominantly PBT—as an alternative form of ionising radiation for clinical use.