If you’re a medical school student, resident or grad student considering a career in Proton Therapy, or a general or family practitioner looking to better advise your patients about a cancer care option with fewer side effects, the new compendium, Proton Therapy Physics, should satisfy you.

Edited by Dr. Harald Paganetti, director of physics research at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School, Proton Therapy Physics draws on the expertise of more than 20 leaders in oncology, radiology and medical physics. They represent nearly a dozen different Proton Therapy research and clinical institutions around the world.

“With the increasing use of protons as radiation therapy modality comes the need for a better understanding of protons,” Paganetti said. “To fully utilize the advantages of Proton Therapy and, just as important, to understand the uncertainties and limitations of precisely shaped dose distribution, proton physics needs to be understood.”

Contributors review the key developments made by scientists and clinicians in using protons to fight cancer. They describe the mechanics of proton accelerators and proton beam delivery, introducing concepts such as dose rate, beam intensity and lateral penumbra that will be expanded on in later chapters.

They ground readers in rich understanding of how protons interact with human tissue, presenting equations used to estimate certain characteristics of proton beams.

More than a third of the book addresses key aspects of treatment planning. Chapters delve into computer simulations using the Monte Carlo particle-tracking methodology, dose distribution, dose calculation algorithms, single field and multiple field uniform doses, moving and non-moving targets and risk models.

Thoroughly illustrated with photos, computer-generated images, charts and graphs, Proton Therapy Physics is the kind of hardcover textbook readers will adorn with Post-it^® notes for instant clarity on proton treatment concepts and methods. A Kindle edition of the 684-page book is also available for Kindle and Apple’s iPad.

Part of the medical physics and bioengineering series by CRC Press, Proton Therapy Physics is available from Amazon.com.