PURPOSE To describe the approval process for enrolling patients on NCI-funded cooperative group clinical trials with proton therapy and the impact of data obtained from the process. METHODS Institutions interested in participating in clinical trials with proton therapy must first complete five RPC-coordinated approval steps for each proton delivery Method: a) completion of the proton facility...

Proton therapy is an emerging technology for providing radiation therapy to cancer patients. The depth dose distribution of a proton beam makes it a preferable radiation modality as it reduces radiation to the healthy tissue outside the tumor, compared with conventional photon therapy. While theoretically beneficial, its clinical values are still being demonstrated from the increasing number of...

The main hindrance to the diffusion of proton therapy facilities is the high cost for gantry installations. An alternative technical option is provided by fixed-beam treatment rooms, where the patient is rotated and translated in space with a robotic arm solution to enable beam incidence from various angles. The technological efforts based on robotic applications made up to now for patient posi...