Particle therapy in gastrointestinal cancer-a narrative review.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objective

Radiation therapy is one of the main pillars in the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, especially esophageal and anorectal malignancies. The worldwide standard of care is yet an irradiation with photons. Though not commonly used, charged particles offer some physical advantages with a highly conformal dose distribution, which allows an even better sparing of organs at risk. In addition to dosimetric advantages, heavy-ion beams like carbon ions may offer an additional set of biological advantages. Because particle therapy is not standard of care, data are scarce-especially concerning the use in GI malignancies. The aim of this review is to provide a compact overview of the currently available literature.

Methods

PubMed and Web of Science data

SUBMITTER: Mattke M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11399865 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature