How does proton therapy treat prostate cancer?

Question: How does proton therapy treat prostate cancer?

Answer:

Proton therapy is a form of radiation therapy. It differs from standard radiation therapy in several ways.

What Makes Proton Therapy Different?

The biggest advantage of proton therapy over standard radiation therapy is that the radiation therapist is able to specifically aim a proton beam on the intended cancerous target. This allows for a very high dose of radiation to be delivered to attack the tumor with only minimal exposure or damage to the surrounding healthy tissue.

Which Cancers Can Be Treated With Proton Therapy?

Proton therapy is used most often for prostate cancer, certain cancers of the eye, cancers of the head and neck, and certain lung cancers. While a wide variety of other cancers in different parts of the body can now be treated with proton therapy, there have not been extensive studies done on its effectiveness for many types of cancer.

What Are the Downsides to Proton Therapy?

There are three primary downsides to proton therapy:

1. Proton therapy is only available in a few select centers around the world. For instance, there are only six operating proton centers in the entire United States; just a handful of others are scheduled to open.

2. Proton therapy is extremely expensive for both hospital and patient. One of the primary reasons why there are so few proton centers is that there is a large up-front cost to build a proton center on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars as well as extensive maintenance fees for the facility. Consequently, proton therapy is not inexpensive for patients or their insurance companies.

3. Not all doctors agree that proton therapy is significantly superior to the more advanced forms of standard radiation therapy. There are now very sophisticated methods available for treating prostate cancer using standard radiation therapy and many physicians believe that these treatments are equally good at eliminating cancer when compared to proton therapy.

_Source:

_{Nguyen PL, Trofimov A, Zietman AL. Proton-beam vs intensity-modulated radiation therapy. Which is best for treating prostate cancer? Oncology (Williston Park). 2008 Jun;22(7):748-54; discussion 754, 757. Review.}

_{Slater JD, Rossi CJ Jr, Yonemoto LT, et al. Proton therapy for prostate cancer: the initial Loma Linda University experience. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2004 Jun 1;59(2):348-52.}

_{Terasawa T, Dvorak T, Ip S, et al. Systematic review: charged-particle radiation therapy for cancer. Ann Intern Med. 2009 Oct 20;151(8):556-65. Epub 2009 Sep 14. Review.}