Proton therapy in the treatment of brain tumors (5-year review)

Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the main pillars of brain tumor treatment. Radiotherapy is usually done with photon, which with this method, photon radiates to healthy tissue and causes secondary cancers. Proton therapy is a new method in radiotherapy that addresses many of these concerns. Considering the newness of this treatment method, we decided to introduce this method and its applications to review the systematic review of proton therapy in the treatment of brain tumors.

In this systematic review, Scopus, Medline PubMed, Google Scholar, CINAHL, Trip and Magiran, SID databases were searched between 2017 and 2022. The search was done based on the keywords, Proton therapy, Brain Tumor, Proton radiotherapy and suitable Mesh words and using the PRISMA checklist, and 16 articles were included in the study out of 40 articles searched.

Proton therapy in adults is effective in treating low-grade glioma tumors and benign tumors such as meningioma. They are also used as an effective treatment in the control of chondrosarcoma and chordoma tumors that are resistant to other types of radiation therapy. The role of this therapeutic method in the treatment of brain tumors, craniopharyngiomas, ependymomas, germ cell tumors, low-grade gliomas, medulloblastomas and atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors in children is very important because it does not spread to the surrounding tissue and reduces the possibility of late toxicity of the central nervous system. Gives.

Considering the benefits of proton therapy, such as reducing the damage of healthy tissue around the tumor, its use in the treatment of tumors resistant to radiotherapy and its wide application in the treatment of all types of brain tumors in children, this treatment method is recommended in the country for patients with tumors. brain to plan and execute.