Radiation induced contrast enhancement after proton beam therapy in patients with low grade glioma – How safe are protons?

Abstract

Symptomatic radiation necrosis following PRT was as rare as conventional photon-based treatment series suggest. However, the increased incidence of asymptomatic radiation-induced brain injuries with an increased average LET observed in this cohort provides strong clinical evidence to support the hypothesis that the relative biological effectiveness of protons is variable and different to the fixed factor of 1.1 currently used worldwide.