Photon radiation therapy, which uses X-rays to cure cancers, is a standard treatment for a type of throat cancer called oropharyngeal cancer. Rates of oropharyngeal cancers are increasing in the U.S., mainly driven by HPV infection.

Reducing the toll of treatment

Proton beam therapy has been used for years in children, where research shows it lowers both short- and long-term treatment-related side effects.

“Protons have been studied extensively in pediatric populations and consistently demonstrate reduced short- and long-term toxicity,” says Nadia Laack, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. “It has been more difficult to prove the benefits in adult cancer because many adult studies have not measured side effects as carefully or as long.”