Page 97 - Tissue News Today

Well, the high—energy beams that are whizzing around cern are created by particle accelerators — big ones. but there are many, many smaller ones around the world, and some of those are in hospitals, and they are being used to treat something that will affect a great many of us during our lifetimes — cancer. this is the christie in manchester — europes largest cancer hospital — and it is one of two places in the uk where cancer patients come to be treated with proton beam therapy. it is...

The action follows an FDA letter to professionals in February warning of a potential for structural failure.

To the tumour instead of on several seconds, for example. you condense it in milliseconds. for a physicist, this should not make any difference, but it seems like when you deliver radiation like this, the tumour gets damaged, the healthy tissue does not get damaged, and of course it could be game changing because you could forget everything about damaging surrounding tissues, etc, and it is as if the particles would know, "this is a healthy cell, this is a cancer cell." now, we have got recent r...

To the side effects. protons being particles slow down as they enter the tissue, and they stop within the tumour and do not go any further. and that means that this form of radiotherapy can be used in really tricky parts of the body. for example, something like the brainstem, which we know is very sensitive to radiation. so, it is very much putting the beam precisely into the tumour and not going into the sensitive organ. all types of cancer treatments risk harming healthy tissue near to the tum...

Well, the high—energy beams that are whizzing around cern are created by particle accelerators — big ones. but there are many, many smaller ones around the world, and some of those are in hospitals, and they are being used to treat something that will affect a great many of us during our lifetimes — cancer. this is the christie in manchester — europes largest cancer hospital — and it is one of two places in the uk where cancer patients come to be treated with proton beam therapy. it is...

Could be game changing because you could forget everything about damaging surrounding tissues, etc, and it is as if the particles would know "this is a healthy cell, this is a cancer cell." do we have any idea why it happens? we dont know the mechanisms. we dont fully understand how flash works. i find it fascinating because it does not talk to my physics brain. so, i am curious to see whether it will bring something or not. now, we have got recent results, not published yet, that seems to indic...

Beams of protons at the cancer. when radiation goes into a patient, obviously you want to use it to kill the tumour, but it goes through normal healthy tissue, and that gives rise to the side effects. that is what makes patients ill, and if you can reduce the side effects to the normal tissue then you can improve quality of life after the treatment. protons being particles slow down as they enter the tissue, and they stop within the tumour and do not go any further. x—rays dont stop and so the...

So, it is very much putting the beam precisely into the tumour and not going into the sensitive organ. all kinds of cancer treatments risk harming healthy tissue near the tumour and research is ongoing around the world to try and minimise this collateral damage. there has been at least one recent, ratherstrange, finding. it is to do with how quickly and how hard you deliver the dose of radiation, and it is called the flash effect. so, you deliver the radiation in a very intense burst to the tumo...

Into a patient, obviously you want to use it to kill the tumour, but it goes through normal healthy tissue, and that gives rise to the side effects. that is what makes patients ill, and if you can reduce the side effects to the normal tissue then you can improve quality of life after the treatment. protons being particles slow down as they enter the tissue, and they stop within the tumour and do not go any further. x—rays dont stop and so they damage the healthy tissue both in front and behind...

Surrounding tissues, etc, and it is as if the particles would know "this is a healthy cell, this is a cancer cell." do we have any idea why it happens? we dont know the mechanisms. we dont fully understand how flash works. i find it fascinating because it does not talk to my physics brain. so, i am curious to see whether it will bring something or not. now, we have got recent results, not published yet, that seems to indicate that we do spare the normal tissue and we might do even more damage to...