A BRIEF HISTORY OF EBRT:
“The first proton treatments were performed in the mid-1950s using a particle accelerator built for physics laboratory research at the University of California, Berkeley, and later at the Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory. “
“The latest advance in proton delivery is “pencil-beam scanning.” Instead of using physical devices outside of the treatment nozzle to shape the beam, pencil-beam scanning utilizes computerized data files, developed based on 3-D models of the patient’s tumor.”
STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EBRT:
The successive period, from 1930 to 1950, was characterised by continuos scientifical progress to treat patients affected by deep cancers. This era (also known as Orthovoltage era) was mainly characterised by the use of the radium-based interstitial irradiation (brachytherapy) and by the development of supervoltage X-ray tubes able to deliver energy from 50 kV to 200 kV.
“The first proton treatments were performed in the mid-1950s using a particle accelerator built for physics laboratory research at the University of California, Berkeley, and later at the Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory.”
“The nation’s first hospital-based proton therapy center opened in 1990 at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in Southern California.”
PIONEERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EBRT:
“In 1946, American physicist and former Manhattan Project group leader Robert Wilson laid the groundwork for the field of proton therapy with the publication of his landmark paper, “Radiological use of Fast Protons.”
REFERENCES:
https://www.scripps.org/sparkle-assets/documents/radiation_therapy_history_fact_sheet.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5535674/
https://www.21co.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/External-Beam-Radiation-Therapy-EBRT-image.jpg
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/external-beam-radiotherapy
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5868193/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30850855/
https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/74959