A dose comparison of proton radiotherapy and photon radiotherapy for pediatric brain tumor

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of photon radiotherapy and to compare the dose of treatment planning between proton radiotherapy and 3D conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) for pediatric brain tumor patients. This study was conducted in five pediatric brain tumor patients who underwent craniospinal irradiation treatment from October 2013 to April 2014 in the hospital. The study compared organs at risk (OARs) by assessing the dose distribution of normal tissue from the proton plan and 3D-CRT. Furthermore, this study assessed the treatment plans by looking at the homogeneity index (HI) and conformity index (CI). As a result, the study revealed OARs due to the small volume proton radiotherapy dose distribution in the normal tissue. Also, by comparing HI and CI between the 3D-CRT and proton radiotherapy plan, the study found that the dose of proton radiotherapy plan was homogenized. When conducting 3D-CRT and proton radiotherapy in a dose–volume histogram comparison, the dose of distribution turned out to be low. Consequently, proton radiotherapy is used for protecting the normal tissue, and is used in tumor tissue as a homogenized dose for effective treatment.