What is proton therapy?

All matter consists of atoms and all atoms have protons along with other subatomic particles. When an accelerated beam of proton is incident on the target tissue like a tumour, due to their relatively enormous size, protons scatter less easily in the tissue and there is very little lateral dispersion. Therefore, the beam stays focused on the tumour shape without much lateral damage to surrounding tissue. The use of protons for radiotherapy is called proton radiotherapy and like other forms of radiotherapy it involves the energised, accelerated, and ionizing protons on the target tumour.