There were no acute complications observed, and no signs of radionecrosis. The patient is being carefully followed for delayed toxicity. With the combined photon and proton therapy, we are hoping to gain superior tumor control for this patient, and hopefully obtain longer survival duration. With successful delivery of precision proton beam irradiation, we hope to develop proton treatment for other primary brain malignancies, prostate cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, locally advanced head and neck carcinoma, and rectal tumors. Most recently, the United States Food and Drug Administration granted the IU proton therapy facility an investigational device exemption, allowing further treatments of this type.
Preparations are presently in progress for the next patients.
Inc. Special thanks are also due to the entire staff at IUCF for their cooperation and assistance over the past 3 years. The inner-most outline is the tumor volume. Also visible are the thermoplastic mask and mounting frame, and the wax bolus used at the left posterior. A single field dose distribution as measured in a water phantom. The origin on the depth axis repre- sents the maximum depth of the Bragg peak, while the origin on the lateral axis represents the beam's central axis.