REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Radiation Oncology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1580513
This article is part of the Research TopicRadiation Spatial Fractionation—A novel approach to integrate Physics, Biology, and Immunology for high therapeutic index radiotherapyView all articles
Proton minibeam radiotherapy: a review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Radiation Oncology, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, China
- 2Johns Hopkins Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
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Radiotherapy plays a crucial role in cancer treatment. Spatially fractionated radiotherapy (SFRT) has garnered significant interest as a therapeutic strategy that delivers alternating regions of high and low radiation doses, thereby optimizing the therapeutic ratio by minimizing damage to adjacent normal tissues while achieving tumoricidal effects. Proton minibeam radiotherapy (pMBRT), a cutting-edge iteration within the SFRT paradigm, has attracted considerable attention owing to its purported benefits in dose distribution optimization, enhanced tumor control, and superior preservation of normal tissue. This manuscript presents an extensive evaluation of different applications of pMBRT, with a focus on the outcomes observed in preclinical research studies.Additionally, we explored the challenges faced in translating pMBRT from research to clinical practice, while also highlighting the significant potential this technique holds for the future of cancer treatment.
Keywords: Proton minibeam radiotherapy, Spatially fractionated radiotherapy, cancer treatment, Implementation of pMBRT, Radiobiological investigations
Received: 20 Feb 2025; Accepted: 25 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Wu, Orlandini, Li and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Heng Li, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 21218, Maryland, United States
Xianliang Wang, Department of Radiation Oncology, Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, China
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