Proton cancer treatment is of the new advanced cancer treatment options. It shows promising results in the treatment of certain types of cancers, such as breast cancer or prostate cancer. It has many advantages over older types of radiation treatment for cancer, since it has very few or no side effects. This also makes it suitable for the treatment of childhood cancers. The recovery is quicker and better, and there is none of the sickness and weakness associated with other treatments.

What is proton cancer treatment?
Proton radiation therapy is a new treatment for certain types of cancers. It uses highly focused proton beam radiation to destroy the affected tissues, without harming the surrounding healthy tissues or sensitive internal organs. This makes it suitable for treatment of prostate cancer, breast cancer, and brain cancer.
Treatment lasts over a period of six to eight weeks. Since there are no side effects, patients don’t have to deal with the sickness that accompanies treatments like chemotherapy and conventional radiation therapy. Each session lasts between 15 and 45 minutes. Most of this time is spent in preparation, the exposure to proton beam radiation lasts only for about a minute or two in each session.

What are the benefits of proton treatment?
Unlike conventional radiation therapy, proton beam radiation can be targeted very precisely. It stops at the affected tissue instead of going beyond to damage healthy tissues. This means that the surrounding tissues and organs do not suffer damage. In fact, with proton cancer treatment for breast cancer, the heart receives no radiation at all. The lungs receive half the amount of radiation they would with conventional treatments.
Since the surrounding tissues and organs suffer little to no damage, the recovery is quicker and better. There are few to no side effects from this treatment. This also makes proton therapy suitable for use in areas where the radiation could damage vital organs, such as the brain, chest, and abdominal areas. It’s also suitable for children, because of the absence of side effects.

How successful is proton cancer treatment?
Proton therapy has high rates of success in treating certain types of cancer. One of the benchmarks of success in cancer treatments is measured in terms of non-recurrence over a given time period. In the case of proton treatment, researchers found that men with low-risk prostate cancer had a 99% rate of non-recurrence five years after the therapy.
For medium-risk patents, the non-recurrence rate was 94% over the same time period, and for high-risk patents, it was 74%. The success of proton therapy has led to the growth of treatment centers around the world. By early 2015, there were over 30 centers under construction worldwide. These had a total of 80 treatment rooms.

Proton cancer treatment is a promising new treatment for certain types of cancers. With quicker and better recovery rates, and few to no side effects, it is suitable for the treatment of childhood cancers as well.