The American Association of Physicists in Medicine held a Symposium on the Promises and Perils of Proton Therapy May 8-9 in Baltimore. The event attracted about 200 scientists and clinicians from the nation's five proton centers and other forthcoming sites, as well as radiation oncology departments.

Topics at the CME event included delivery of protons, clinical evidence in proton therapy, and technical uncertainties in the emerging field such as the challenge of motion of a tumor site and controlling beam direction and scattering.

"Estimating uncertainty in anything is at the heart of physics," said Michael Goitein, emeritus professor, Harvard Medical School. "We need to understand and minimize uncertainties and plan treatment taking them into account."




Broader challenges for the field of proton therapy include a lack of randomized trials, which is at issue despite the science underpinning this therapeutic approach. Treatment planning, specific tumor sites, the finer points of the technology, and benefits to various patient populations were also of intense focus.

The cost of developing proton therapy facilities, which use particle accelerators, is always top of mind. Some businesses had modest exhibits at the meeting including cyclotron, radiation therapy, and software companies. These included TomoTherapy, Lexitek, PTW, Varian Medical Systems, VOA Associates, Still River Systems, ProTom, WFR-Aquaplast/Qfix Systems, Elekta and IBA.

Watch DOTmed News for ongoing coverage of this topic. Read our report on proton therapy in the May 2009 issue of DOTmed Business News.