The second leading cause of death in the United States is cancer. It is approximated that nearly 24,000 adults and 5,000 children are diagnosed with cancer just of the brain and spinal cord each year. Of the two types of cancer, brain tumors makes for the majority. Glioblastomas make up for 15% of the primary cases of diagnosed brain cancer.
Besides just brain and spinal cord cancer, the other common diagnoses are of breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer. The foremost question for anyone that has been diagnosed with cancer is how to best treat it? While we know of chemotherapy, we should know of the other advanced cancer treatment options available.
One of the best therapies available is proton therapy for cancer. This therapy provides proton beam radiation that is targeted at specific, cancerous tissue. This type of radiation, as utilized for, say, a breast cancer cure, or for treatment of prostate cancer, is better because proton treatment can be precisely regulated. Whereas regular radiation methods would pass through the tumor and affect the rest of the body, cancer proton therapy can be regulated to stop just at the tumor. For women that have been diagnosed with breast cancer, that is a blessing, as this proton therapy for cancer can reduce the likelihood of radiation penetrating the lungs by 50%.
Medical researchers studying proton therapy for cancer have found that the proton cancer option can greatly reduce cases of cancer and cancer recurrence: 99% of men with low-risk prostate cancer were positively treated; 94% of men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer were positively treated; and 74% of high-risk prostate cancer cases were positively treated. Furthermore, classical radiation techniques for prostate cancer could often lead towards men becoming impotent; however, proton therapy for cancer techniques have reported reducing this likelihood, with 94% of men reporting that they were still able to remain sexually active following their proton treatment.
As of 2015, there were more than 30 proton cancer option treatment centers within the United States. An average treatment session is said to last anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, with the time depending upon the seriousness of the tumor. Further, proton radiation was usually only delivered for about a minute or two, as most of the time is sent ensuring that the rays are being delivered exactly where they are meant to.
If you have been recently diagnosed with cancer, consider discussing the option of proton therapy for cancer with your primary doctor, deciding if it is the best treatment option for you.
