Table-Top Protons...

Credit: Physics World - Lateral Dose

Proton therapy is used in the treatment of cancer and hopeful remission from the disease.

There is a significant difference between standard (x-ray) radiation treatment and proton therapy. If given in sufficient doses, x-ray radiation techniques will control many cancers. But, because of the physician's inability to adequately conform the irradiation pattern to the cancer, healthy tissues may receive a similar dose and can be damaged. Consequently, a less- than-desired dose is frequently used to reduce damage to healthy tissues and avoid unwanted side effects. The power of protons is that higher doses of radiation can be used to control and manage cancer while significantly reducing damage to healthy tissue and vital organs.¹

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A table-top proton accelerator for medical therapy could be one step closer thanks to work done by physicists in Germany. The team's system is based on a compact Ti:sapphire laser, which fires ultrashort light pulses at a diamond-like foil to produce bunches of protons with energies of around 5 MeV.

The team has shown that its device delivers radiation doses to biological cells that are similar to doses created by much larger conventional proton-therapy systems. The researchers say that the technique could also be used to study ultrafast processes in biology and chemistry.²

1. The National Association for Proton Therapy, Official Site
2. Pulsed lasers could make proton therapy more accessible, Physics World