Carbon ion radiation therapy in prostate cancer: The importance of dosage

In this article, we comment on the article by Ono et al. We focus specifically on the carbon ion radiotherapy studies and the method to calculate the dosing schedule. While photon hypofractionated radiotherapy in prostate cancer has demonstrated improvement in tumor control with reduced gastrointestinal toxicity compared to conventional radiotherapy, carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) offers additional physical and biological advantages. Recent findings, including those from Ono et al, have established new dose constraints of CIRT for prostate cancer treatment and risk factors for rectal bleeding. Due to limited data on CIRT dosing, this study underscores the need for more research to refine dose calculation methods and better understand their effects on clinical outcomes.