This technique is able to deliver high doses of radiation to a defined local area. Proton beam therapy is used in the treatment of other solid tumors as well. There are not much data yet regarding the efficacy of this treatment in liver cancer. The ideal patient is one with only asmall(<5 cm) solitary lesion. To have this procedure done, the patient actually is fitted with a body cast so that he or she can be placed in the identical position for each session.
Therapy is conducted daily for 15 days. Preliminary data from the U.S. suggest similar effectiveness as seen with TACE or ablation therapy. It is not known, however, whether this type of radiation treatment prolongs the life of the patient. How do these various medical treatment procedures compare to each other? We really don't know because there are no head-to-head studies comparing chemotherapy, chemoembolization, ablation techniques, and proton beam therapy to each other.

Most reports deal with a heterogeneous group of patients who have undergone only one specific treatment procedure or another. Therefore, selection of a treatment option for a particular patient will depend primarily on the expertise of the doctors in the patient's area. Studies are also needed to evaluate combinations of these procedures (for example, proton beam and TACE)

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