Top view of proton beams
entering head (
NCI)
by Ross Bonander
Proton cancer treatment, also known as proton beam therapy, involves the medical use of protons to treat cancer. It is a non-invasive and painless procedure that falls under the umbrella of radiation therapy and in fact achieves the same cellular death in the same fashion; however, proton treatment is significantly more precise than standard radiation, reducing the damage done to healthy surrounding tissue that may be no more than a millimeter away from a tumor.
Depending on the tumor type and where it is in the body, proton cancer treatment can require a single day, or it can go on for several weeks.
What proton beam therapy is effective for and why
Proton cancer treatment is most effective on localized tumors that have not metastasized to other parts of the body, as well as tumors that are difficult to reach, such as those in the head and neck, lung, prostate, bladder, spinal cord and brain. Unlike traditional x-ray radiation, the proton beam easily penetrates the skin, and can do its damage on deeper tumors this way while avoiding the skin-related side effects of radiotherapy.
Proton treatment can also be used as a compliment to other treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy or biological therapy.
Side effects: Overview
While proton beam therapy does in fact reduce or eliminate many of the side effects commonly associated with radiotherapy, it does in fact have some side effects. For instance, it has been shown to render some prostate cancer patients impotent. Patients are encouraged to ask their oncology team about potential side effects of this therapy.
Although the technology has been around since the 1950s, it is extremely expensive to build a facility that can treat patients with proton beam therapy since the facility requires a massive particle accelerator, among other things, and can cost in excess of $100 million. Currently only a handful of facilities in the United States offer proton beam therapy.
Sources
- National Association for Proton Therapy, How it works
- US News & World Report, The Promise of Proton-Beam Therapy
- Ko, Andrew H MD et al. 2008. Everyone's Guide to Cancer Therapy, Fifth Ed. Kansas City. Andres McMeel Publishing LLC.
- Boyiadzis, Michael M. et al. Hematology-Oncology Therapy. 2007. New York: McGraw Hill, Medical Publishing Division.
