Proton Therapy Physics, Second Edition

Reviews / Votes

"This textbook gives an excellent and comprehensive overview on proton therapy physics and is of value for a variety of different readers. Extending and updating the previous edition has improved the book and kept it timely. While it cannot be complete, it covers the most important aspects and provides plenty of references for further reading. The book will be of great value for beginners as well as for experts in the field of proton therapy and should not be missing in the medical physicist's book shelf!"
-Prof Christian Karger in Physica Medica (69, 2020, 183)

"Proton Therapy Physics should be a must-have reference book on desks of all research and clinical physicists working in the field of proton therapy. The book is very comprehensive, covering all important aspects of proton therapy physics, including beam delivery, dosimetry, operation, treatment planning, image guidance, and biological efforts. Almost all chapter authors are well known experts in the field. So the chapters are all well written, informative, and up-to-date. More importantly, the editor, Dr. Harald Paganetti is a well-respected, well established researcher in proton therapy physics. I would strongly recommend this book!"
- Steve B. Jiang, Professor Vice Chair, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

"Proton Therapy Physics is a comprehensive collection of outstanding chapters on the subject matter. The second edition is a necessary and welcome update of the first edition in this rapidly evolving field. It is edited by Prof. Harald Paganetti, an internationally renowned expert in the physics of proton therapy. It is difficult imagine a more qualified individual than Dr. Paganetti, with his in-depth understanding of physics and biology of protons, to produce such an impressive book. In addition to writing or contributing to four of the chapters himself, he has assembled a team of the well-known experts from all over the world to author the remaining nineteen chapters.
The book covers a full range of topics including physics of interactions of protons with matter, design and characteristics of passively-scattered and scanning proton therapy delivery systems, radiation shielding, relative and absolute dosimetry, commissioning and acceptance testing, dose calculations, design and optimization of treatment plans, imaging for proton range determination, uncertainties in planning and delivery of proton therapy and their management, biological effectiveness of protons, and more. Topics are dealt with in appropriate depth and supplemented with thousands of references for those interested in learning more. The book will serve as an excellent resource for students, trainees, radiation dosimetrists, radiation physicists and radiation oncologists. It will be equally valuable to new entrants in the field and for the experts, both clinical and research, interested in refreshing their knowledge.
The true potential of proton therapy to improve outcomes is yet to be realized. There are significant gaps in our understanding of physical and biological aspects of proton therapy and there are limitations of current techniques and technologies. Current research and technological advances are aimed at overcoming these gaps and limitations. Considering how rapidly the field of proton therapy is changing, I hope Dr. Paganetti and his team of contributors will again produce the next edition in a few years."
- Professor Radhe Mohan, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

"CRC Press have updated and expanded on the first edition of Proton Therapy Physics edited by Professor Harold Paganetti which was first published in 2012. The successful first edition has been restructured with the addition of a few new chapters. Originally with 20 chapters the second edition comes with 23 chapters. The second edition also sees the return of all the previous contributing experts, with the addition of a few others. With the significant increase in number of proton therapy centres around the world, this second edition comes at a good time to provide an update on this continually developing field... Similar to the first edition, this book is well structured and well written. The illustrations are of a high quality, however they come black and white in the hardback (colour in the ebook version). In my opinion, this book serves as an outstanding reference for the physics of proton beam therapy, not only to medical physicists but also physicians and radiation therapists. With proton therapy soon to be arriving in Australia I highly recommend this text for those interested in the field. I will certainly be utilising this text in the teaching of students in the area of proton therapy."

- Alexandre M. C. Santos, Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine, in Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (August 2020). "This textbook gives an excellent and comprehensive overview on proton therapy physics and is of value for a variety of different readers. Extending and updating the previous edition has improved the book and kept it timely. While it cannot be complete, it covers the most important aspects and provides plenty of references for further reading. The book will be of great value for beginners as well as for experts in the field of proton therapy and should not be missing in the medical physicist's book shelf!"
-Prof Christian Karger in Physica Medica (69, 2020, 183)

"Proton Therapy Physics should be a must-have reference book on desks of all research and clinical physicists working in the field of proton therapy. The book is very comprehensive, covering all important aspects of proton therapy physics, including beam delivery, dosimetry, operation, treatment planning, image guidance, and biological efforts. Almost all chapter authors are well known experts in the field. So the chapters are all well written, informative, and up-to-date. More importantly, the editor, Dr. Harald Paganetti is a well-respected, well established researcher in proton therapy physics. I would strongly recommend this book!"
- Steve B. Jiang, Professor Vice Chair, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

"Proton Therapy Physics is a comprehensive collection of outstanding chapters on the subject matter. The second edition is a necessary and welcome update of the first edition in this rapidly evolving field. It is edited by Prof. Harald Paganetti, an internationally renowned expert in the physics of proton therapy. It is difficult imagine a more qualified individual than Dr. Paganetti, with his in-depth understanding of physics and biology of protons, to produce such an impressive book. In addition to writing or contributing to four of the chapters himself, he has assembled a team of the well-known experts from all over the world to author the remaining nineteen chapters.
The book covers a full range of topics including physics of interactions of protons with matter, design and characteristics of passively-scattered and scanning proton therapy delivery systems, radiation shielding, relative and absolute dosimetry, commissioning and acceptance testing, dose calculations, design and optimization of treatment plans, imaging for proton range determination, uncertainties in planning and delivery of proton therapy and their management, biological effectiveness of protons, and more. Topics are dealt with in appropriate depth and supplemented with thousands of references for those interested in learning more. The book will serve as an excellent resource for students, trainees, radiation dosimetrists, radiation physicists and radiation oncologists. It will be equally valuable to new entrants in the field and for the experts, both clinical and research, interested in refreshing their knowledge.
The true potential of proton therapy to improve outcomes is yet to be realized. There are significant gaps in our understanding of physical and biological aspects of proton therapy and there are limitations of current techniques and technologies. Current research and technological advances are aimed at overcoming these gaps and limitations. Considering how rapidly the field of proton therapy is changing, I hope Dr. Paganetti and his team of contributors will again produce the next edition in a few years."
- Professor Radhe Mohan, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

"CRC Press have updated and expanded on the first edition of Proton Therapy Physics edited by Professor Harold Paganetti which was first published in 2012. The successful first edition has been restructured with the addition of a few new chapters. Originally with 20 chapters the second edition comes with 23 chapters. The second edition also sees the return of all the previous contributing experts, with the addition of a few others. With the significant increase in number of proton therapy centres around the world, this second edition comes at a good time to provide an update on this continually developing field... Similar to the first edition, this book is well structured and well written. The illustrations are of a high quality, however they come black and white in the hardback (colour in the ebook version). In my opinion, this book serves as an outstanding reference for the physics of proton beam therapy, not only to medical physicists but also physicians and radiation therapists. With proton therapy soon to be arriving in Australia I highly recommend this text for those interested in the field. I will certainly be utilising this text in the teaching of students in the area of proton therapy."

- Alexandre M. C. Santos, Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine, in Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (August 2020).

"This is the second edition of a book published 11 years ago that had a remarkable and successful impact on the proton therapy community. The first edition deserved to be updated due to the considerable evolution and the widespread diffusion of proton therapy since then. The book was updated including new chapters organized in thematic sections named: "Background", "Beam Delivery", "Dosimetry", "Operation", "Treatment Planning/Delivery", "Imaging" and "Biological Effects".

The first two chapters give a complete and valid background to medical physics students that approaches proton therapy in terms of history and theory behind the rationale of using protons in clinical radiotherapy applications. Here, all the main formulae for the physics description of proton interaction with matter can be found. One of the main improvements of the book regarded the dosimetry section. This part was enriched with an entire chapter dedicated to Monte Carlo (MC) and a whole variety of its application in proton therapy. From a general introduction to MC methods for the estimation of uncertainties due to the method itself, from the simulation of passive beam lines to the simulation of scanned beam delivery with an interesting concluding paragraph on practical MC clinical applications such as organ motion studies, simulation of LET distributions, detectors modeling etc. The section was further improved in the chapter dedicated to absolute and reference dosimetry with a new paragraph dedicated to the importance of dosimetric intercomparisons and reference dosimetry audit, confirming the clinical orientation the editor decided to give to this edition of the book.

In general, the book confirmed its validity and its importance for the proton therapy community. Having a book that treats all of the above-mentioned aspects of proton therapy in a didactical form and gives all the updated references helps both the students that are approaching the field and the experts in being updated on each of these topics. The previous version of the book needed an update and the way it was done, focusing on clinical application for each section, was the best because gave an idea of the real problems a team of medical physicists has to solve every day in clinical workflows... In summary, this book is a welcome confirmation to proton therapy bibliography and should be on the bookshelf of every medical physicist in the community."






Francesco Fracchiolla, MSc, Medical Physicist, Department of Medical Physics, APSS Trento Hospital in MEDICAL PHYSICS INTERNATIONAL Journal, vol.10, No.2, 2022