Overview of hadron therapy: rationales, present status and future prospects

Abstract

The rationales for hadron therapy are based on the physical selectivity and biological effects of the respective beams. Fastneutron therapy began as long ago as 1938 and subsequently proton, alpha particle, heavy ion, pion and neutron capture therapy have beenused. To date it is estimated that in excess of 50000 peoplehave undergone some form of hadron therapy. In the future it isexpected that fast neutron therapy will be used for selected tumourtypes for which neutrons are known to show improved cure rates. Thefuture trends in charged particle therapy will be driven by increasingcommercialization. The future of neutron capture therapy will dependon current clinical trials with epithermal neutron beams and thedevelopment of new tumour-seeking drugs.