The number of pediatric patients being treated in the U.S. with proton radiation therapy has increased by more than a third, according to a nationwide study presented at last week's annual Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group (PTCOG) conference in San Diego.
A research team led by Dr. Andrew Chang of Scripps Proton Therapy Center surveyed all U.S. proton therapy centers and found that 722 pediatric patients were treated with proton therapy for cancerous and noncancerous tumors in 2013, up 36% from the 465 patients who were treated in 2010.
Of those pediatric patients who received proton therapy in 2013, 56% were younger than age 10 and 26% were enrolled in multi-institutional registry studies, according to the researchers. Ependymoma (brain), medulloblastoma (brain and spinal cord), and low-grade glioma (brain) were the most common tumor diagnoses treated.
