Proton therapy patterns of care among pediatric and adult patients with CNS tumors

Given the lack of exit radiation dose, proton therapy (PT) has been used for primary CNS tumors to minimize dose to adjacent, radiosensitive brain structures. For example, exposure of the hippocampus to even a low radiation dose has been associated with neurocognitive impairment.^1,2 While PT efficacy and toxicity for CNS tumors is being studied, data on the patterns of care for PT use is limited and based on only pediatric patients.^3–5 We used a multicenter registry to identify which CNS patients receive PT and whether differences exist between adult and pediatric CNS PT patients.