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ABSTRACT
Introduction: Radiation therapy is an effective treatment option for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, radiotherapy for HCC still has limited recognition as a standard treatment option in international consensus guidelines due to a paucity of randomized controlled trials and the risk of hepatotoxicity, which is primarily mediated by baseline liver function and dose delivered to non-tumor liver cells. Proton beam therapy (PBT) may offer advantages over photon-based radiation treatments through its dosimetric characteristic of sparing more liver volume at low to moderate doses. PBT has the potential to reduce radiation-related hepatotoxicity and allow for tumor dose escalation.
Areas covered: This article reviews the clinical rationale for using PBT for HCC patients and clinical outcome and toxicity data from retrospective and prospective studies. PBT-specific technical challenges for these tumors and appropriate selection of patients to be treated with PBT are discussed.
Expert commentary: Local control, overall survival, and toxicity results are promising for liver PBT. Future studies, including ongoing randomized cooperative group trials, will aim to determine the incremental benefit of PBT over photons and which patients are most suitable for PBT.
Declaration of interest
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.