Though slow to adopt, proton therapy is making waves in the progression of cancer treatment as more centers and new technologies dedicated to the practice enter the market in the U.S. and abroad, raising the bar for what is or will be possible for cancer care in the next few years.

Here is a list of the top five proton therapy current events from 2018.

At ASTRO, Varian introduces smaller footprint proton system, talks ‘flash’ therapy

Cutting irradiation time by 75 percent became possible with the introduction of Varian’s ProBeam 360°.

Debuting this past fall at ASTRO, the single-room PT system offers a 30 percent lower footprint than its predecessor, reducing vault construction costs by approximately 25 percent. Even more important is the access it is expected to provide to flash therapy, a treatment that applies high doses at ultra-high speeds in less than a second, and can be delivered in one to three sessions. The subject is the main focus of Varian’s new research initiative, the FlashForward Consortium.

“The real mission of the consortium is to help us advance that therapy into clinical use,” Bill Hansen, strategic initiatives director for Varian, told HCB News at the annual meeting. “They’ll help with the preclinical work that we’re doing now, which we will not only continue but expand in terms of the various preclinical tests we’re doing with animals. We’ll prepare for the first clinical trials in humans, and the consortium will help us define what those clinical trials should be. We’ll probably pick one or two disease sites where we’ll start those trials.”

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