Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun 25;8(1):168-178.
doi: 10.14338/IJPT-20-00083. eCollection 2021 Summer.

A Review of Particle Therapy for Skull Base Tumors: Modern Considerations and Future Directions

Eugen B Hug  1 , Maciej Pelak  1 , Steven J Frank  2 , Piero Fossati  1
Affiliations

A Review of Particle Therapy for Skull Base Tumors: Modern Considerations and Future Directions

Eugen B Hug et al. Int J Part Ther. .

Abstract

Skull base tumors constitute one of the established indications for particle therapy, specifically proton therapy. However, a number of prognostic factors, practical clinical management issues, and the emerging role of carbon ion therapy remain subjects of active clinical investigation. This review summarizes these topics, assesses the present status, and reflects on future research directions focusing on the management of chordomas, one of the most aggressive skull base tumors. In addition, the role of particle therapy for benign tumors of the skull base, including pituitary adenoma and acoustic neuroma, is reviewed.

Keywords: carbon ion therapy; chordoma; particle therapy; proton beam therapy; skull base tumors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: Steven J. Frank, MD, is an associate editor of the International Journal of Particle Therapy. Dr Frank reports grants and personal fees from Hitachi. Outside the submitted work, Dr Frank is a cofounder of C4 Imaging, LLC, for which he reports grants and personal fees, and he reports personal fees from Varian, grants from Eli Lilly, grants from Elekta, other remuneration from Breakthrough Chronic Care, personal fees from Augmenix, and personal fees from the National Comprehensive Cancer Center.

References

    1. Hug EB. Review of skull base chordomas: prognostic factors and long-term results of proton-beam radiotherapy. Neurosurg Focus. 2001;10:E11. - PubMed
    1. Hug EB, Loredo LN, Slater JD, DeVries A, Grove RI, Schaefer RA, Rosenberg AE, Slater JM. Proton radiation therapy for chordomas and chondrosarcomas of the skull base. J Neurosurg. 1999;91:432–9. - PubMed
    1. Yaniv D, Soudry E, Strenov Y, Cohen MA, Mizrachi A. Skull base chordomas review of current treatment paradigms. World J Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020;6:125–31. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mercado CE, Holtzman AL, Rotondo R, Rutenberg MS, Mendenhall WM. Proton therapy for skull base tumors: a review of clinical outcomes for chordomas and chondrosarcomas. Head Neck. 2019;41:536–41. - PubMed
    1. Ahmed SK, Brown PD, Foote RL. Protons vs photons for brain and skull base tumors. Semin Radiat Oncol. 2018;28:97–107. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources