Proton Therapy SG | Radiotherapy
Proton Beam Therapy and Conventional X-Ray Treatment
Proton Therapy SG provides proton therapy as well as conventional radiation therapy services such as IMRT, VMAT, SRS, and SBRT. Proton therapy may be more precise to normal tissues compared to conventional radiotherapy.
What is Proton Therapy?
Proton therapy is treatment delivered with particles. Protons are separated from hydrogen atoms and sped up in a particle accelerator and delivered to the patient. Protons stop at a predetermined distance in the patient instead of traveling through. They also deposit most of the dose at the tumour. On the other hand, X-rays from treatments like intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) travel through and through the patient. X-rays also have a deposit a higher dose at the surface of the patient relative to the tumour itself. Thus, proton therapy has a better dosimetric profile.
Proton Beam Therapy (PBT)
Uses high-energy sub-atomic particles called protons to precisely target tumours in the body while reducing radiation damage to surrounding normal organs and tissue. It is often used in the treatment of complex cancers such as in the head and neck, brain, liver, and in childhood cancers.
What are The Benefit of Proton Therapy?
Proton therapy is useful in two scenarios:
- Escalate dose
- Keep the toxicity in adjacent organs constant but increase the radiation dose to the tumour
- Example: curing more skull base chordomas without causing blindness
- Reduce Collateral Injury
- Keep radiation to the tumour constant but reduce toxicity to adjacent normal organs
- Example: curing the same rate of medulloblastomas but reducing the damage to heart and lungs
When Should We Consider Proton Therapy?
You should consider proton therapy for the following types of patients:
- Young patients, especially children, as their risk of second cancer from therapy itself is higher
- Radio-resistant tumours requiring dose escalation, e.g. chordoma, chondrosarcoma
- Tumours in locations with many critical structures nearby, e.g. head and neck cancer, brain tumours, liver cancers, esophageal cancers etc
- When the dose splash with conventional radiotherapy will be significant enough to cause more side effects, e.g. cranio-spinal irradiation.
Our Comprehensive Radiation Oncology Clinic
Varian Probeam
360-degree rotating arm with high-output pencil beam scanning proton therapy, robotic couch, and integrated high-definition CT for image-guidance.
Varian Halcyon
A powerful, fast and precise linear accelerator for photon radiotherapy.
SDX – Breath hold and gating for moving targets
e.g. breast, lung and liver.
On-site MRI, CT and PET/CT, Nasoendoscopy
Access to other equipment off-site : Varian Truebeam for stereotactic and electron radiotherapy at Mount Alvernia and Raffles Hospital
Our Trusted Doctors
