Brain volume loss in glioblastoma patients following photon and proton radiochemotherapy

Gray matter (GM) atrophy in healthy brain tissue following radiochemotherapy was shown in brain-tumor patients in several studies. Here, we aimed to study GM and white matter (WM) changes in glioblastoma patients undergoing photon (n=43) and proton (n=12) radiochemotherapy. In photon-therapy patients, a statistically significant decrease of both GM (~2%) and WM (1.3-2.3%) volume was found with a positive influence of the RT-dose on the GM volume loss. In proton-therapy patients, no significant changes in GM and WM volumes were observed after therapy. This indicates that the proton-therapy has the potential to reduce structural GM changes in healthy tissue.