Dosanjh Manjit, Degiovanni Alberto, Necchi Maria Monica, Benedetto Elena
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.
Technol Cancer Res Treat. 2025 Jan-Dec;24:15330338241311859. doi: 10.1177/15330338241311859.
The battle against cancer remains a top priority for society, with an urgent need to develop therapies capable of targeting challenging tumours while preserving patient's quality of life. Hadron Therapy (HT), which employs accelerated beams of protons, carbon ions, and other charged particles, represents a significant frontier in cancer treatment. This modality offers superior precision and efficacy compared to conventional methods, delivering therapeutic the dose directly to tumours while sparing healthy tissue. Even though 350,000 patients have already been treated worldwide with protons and 50,000 with carbon ions, HT is still a relatively young field and more research as well as novel, cost-effective and compact accelerator technologies are needed to make this treatment more readily available globally. Interestingly the very first patient was irradiated with protons in September 1954, the same month and year CERN was founded. Both of these endeavours are embedded in cutting edge technologies and multidisciplinary collaboration. HT is finally gaining ground and, even after 70 years, the particle therapy field continues innovating and improving for the benefits of patients globally. Developing technologies that are both affordable and easy to use is key and would allow access to more patients. Advances in accelerator-driven Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), image-guided hadron beams delivery, clinical trials and immunotherapy, together with the recent interest and advances in FLASH therapy, which is currently an experimental treatment modality that involves ultrahigh-dose rate delivery, are just a few examples of innovation that may eventually help to provide access to a larger number of patients.
对抗癌症的斗争仍然是社会的首要任务，迫切需要开发能够靶向具有挑战性的肿瘤同时保持患者生活质量的疗法。强子疗法（HT）利用加速的质子、碳离子和其他带电粒子束，是癌症治疗的一个重要前沿领域。与传统方法相比，这种治疗方式具有更高的精度和疗效，能将治疗剂量直接输送到肿瘤部位，同时 sparing healthy tissue（此处原文有误，推测应为“保护健康组织”）。尽管全球已有35万名患者接受了质子治疗，5万名患者接受了碳离子治疗，但HT仍然是一个相对年轻的领域，需要更多的研究以及新颖、经济高效且紧凑的加速器技术，以使这种治疗在全球范围内更容易获得。有趣的是，1954年9月，也就是欧洲核子研究组织（CERN）成立的同年同月，第一位患者接受了质子照射。这两项努力都融入了前沿技术和多学科合作。HT终于开始普及，即使在70年后，粒子治疗领域仍在不断创新和改进，以造福全球患者。开发既经济又易于使用技术是关键，这将使更多患者能够接受治疗。加速器驱动的硼中子俘获疗法（BNCT）、图像引导的强子束输送、临床试验和免疫疗法的进展，以及最近对FLASH疗法的兴趣和进展（FLASH疗法目前是一种涉及超高剂量率输送的实验性治疗方式），只是一些创新的例子，这些创新最终可能有助于让更多患者能够接受治疗。
