Proton therapy has advantages over IMRT for advanced head and neck cancers

A new study by radiation oncologists at Mayo Clinic comparing the world’s literature on outcomes of proton beam therapy in the treatment of a variety of advanced head and neck cancers of the skull base compared to intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) has found that proton beam therapy significantly improved disease free survival and tumor control when compared to IMRT. “We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the clinical outcomes of patients treated with proton therapy with patients receiving photon IMRT,” says senior author Robert Foote, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Mayo Clinic. “Our findings suggest that the theoretical advantages of proton beam therapy may in fact be real.” Read more here.