Proton Beam Therapy

• Proton beam therapy (PBT) is difficult for cancer patients in India to access due to a lack of facilities and its high cost, which can reach run into tens of lakhs of rupees.
• In India, there aren't any public facilities that provide proton beam therapy treatment at the moment. For treating solid tumours, particularly head and neck cancers, the procedure is regarded as an effective substitute for radiation therapy.

What is Proton Beam Therapy?

• It is a type of radiation therapy based on protons that is used to treat cancer, particularly in the neck and head.
• Moreover, it has shown potential against various cancer types.
• Targeting specific areas and tumours has the advantage of reducing the hazardous side effects of conventional X-ray-based radiation treatments.
• PBT can accurately target the tumour while reducing radiation exposure to nearby healthy tissue, unlike conventional radiation therapy, which employs X-rays.
• PBT is often administered using a sizable, intricate device known as a cyclotron, which propels protons at high speeds to the tumour site.
• In order to reach the tumour, a proton beam transmits some radiation to healthy tissue, but very little radiation is sent past the tumor's margin.
• This means that PBT is equally as effective at treating tumours while exposing less of the surrounding healthy tissues to radiation.

How Proton Therapy Works

• Protons are accelerated by a device known as a synchrotron or cyclotron. High energy is produced by the protons' rapid speed. The protons are propelled by this energy to the precise location within the body. The targeted radiation dose is subsequently delivered to the tumour by the protons.
• Less radiation is administered outside of the tumour while using proton treatment. After x-rays depart the patient's body, they continue to deliver radiation doses during conventional radiation therapy. This indicates that radiation potentially causes negative effects by damaging surrounding healthy tissues.

Significance

• PBT is a more recent technology that is intended to further cut down on how much radiation damages nearby healthy tissue.
• In particular patient populations or when the cancer is close to a major organ, such the spinal cord, the Treatment makes it possible to precisely focus a dosage of high-energy protons to a tumour, minimising the damage to nearby healthy tissues and vital organs.
• PBT is increasingly being used to treat cancer in young patients. Compared to traditional radiotherapy, there is no greater probability of curing the disease, but there is a chance that the severity of the long-term adverse effects will be lessened, if not completely eliminated.
• PBT has mostly been used to treat malignancies in adults that are adjacent to organs that are more susceptible to the harmful effects of radiation. For instance, PBT is used to treat specific tumours that are found near the base of the skull, inside the head, close to the brain, and in the spine.

Side Effects

• The actual procedure is painless. Afterward, you can feel worn out. You could also experience skin issues like blistering, peeling, and redness.
• You can get additional side effects, particularly if you're also getting chemotherapy. The size of the tumour, the type of healthy tissue close to the tumour, and the area of the body being treated all affect the proton therapy's negative effects. Find out which side effects are most likely to affect you by asking your medical team.

Problems with PBT

• The price for installing PBT is substantially over 500 crores.
• The Department of Atomic Energy's safety concerns make opening a PBT centre challenging from an infrastructure and regulatory standpoint.
• A daily inspection is needed to make sure there are no hydrogen leaks.
• The Department of Atomic Energy has safety concerns.
• PBT for the general public has not yet been made available by any government facility.
• Most people cannot afford the lakhs of rupees in treatment charges.
• There is now only one PBT centre in South and West Asia, located at Apollo Hospital in Chennai.

Moving Ahead

• To meet the demands of the general public, particularly the needs of children, the government must find a means to have at least a few of these facilities.

It will help promote the vast, unexplored market for expensive therapies in medical tourism.