Cancer treatment centers continue to advance the options that they provide to their patients. What once may have meant an overall body radiation and a designated amount of chemotherapy, is now often a combination of other kinds of cancer fighting drugs and various types of specialized treatments. One of the most effective developments in cancer treatment centers around the country is the use of proton radiation. From proton therapy for prostate cancer to proton therapy for head and neck cancer, there are many new and effective methods that allow doctors to target very specific locations in their battle against this deadly disease.
Advanced Cancer Treatment Options Allow Doctors to Cater a Plan for Each Individual Patient
Proton therapy is a type of radiation that stops at a very specific point in the targeted tissue. And while conventional radiation continues beyond the tumor, proton treatments are much more directed and specific. In breast cancer, for example, proton therapy means on average no radiation to the heart and on average 50% less radiation to the lung when it is compared with conventional radiation.
Consider some of these facts and figures about the the cancer treatments in the U.S. that are used to battle this deadly disease:
- Researchers report that 99% of men treated with proton therapy with low risk prostate cancer have no signs of cancer recurrence after five years of follow-up.
- Researchers report that 94% of men treated with proton therapy with intermediate risk prostate cancer have no signs of cancer recurrence after five years of follow-up.
- Researchers report that 74% of men treated with proton therapy with high risk prostate cancer have no signs of cancer recurrence after five years of follow-up.
- Proton therapy decreases the radiation dose to gastrointestinal structures by at least 59% when it is compared to X-rays.
- Although he actual time spent delivering the protons to the tumor is generally only about a minute or two, treatment session generally takes 15 to 45 minutes.
- With a total of about 80 treatment rooms, at the beginning of 2015 there were more than 30 particle therapy centers under construction worldwide.
Receiving a cancer diagnosis is always difficult. Some patients and their families, however, are able to find comfort in the fact that they may be candidates for a more targeted and successful approach like proton therapy.