Posted on 12/26/2019 11:43:36 AM PST by aimhigh
Proton therapy leads to significantly lower risk of side effects severe enough to lead to unplanned hospitalizations for cancer patients when compared with traditional radiation, while cure rates between the two groups are almost identical. The findings come from an expanded analysis of the largest review of its kind, performed by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, to evaluate whether or not patients undergoing radiation therapy at the same time as chemotherapy experienced serious adverse events within 90 days. Researchers found proton therapy reduces the relative risk of these side effects by two-thirds.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
“But Chemo is a jobs program.”
As a six-year cancer survivor that chemotherapy put into remission, WHO CARES!
I had to look that up. It seems like it's very similar but Proton is newer. The deal about proton therapy is that it targets JUST the cancerous cells. The protons are focused to release their energy inside the tumor only. The flesh and bone it goes through is minimally affected. I was told it was sorta like a grenade launcher in that it flies through the hips and the rectum is moved out of the way as much as possible, and the protons explode inside the tumor. The software focuses the beam to the exact millimeter to stop and burn the tumor. They first put a BB inside your prostate and measure how far inside you it is. Each session ( I had 39) they first line you up with an "X" on the BB with x ray. They cut blocks of plastic about 2 inches thick to put in front of the beam. Each block is specially cut to the depth needed to make the beam strongest in the middle and weakest at the edges. The put a balloon up your rectum and inflate it to push your rectum out of the way. Also, you drink a certain amount of water to inflate your bladder before treatments. All of this is planned out before your first treatment and remains the same to the end.
www.https://protonbob.com/ will give you a downloadable book that talks all about it, even the details.
Six years ago I was treated for prostate cancer with proton radiation therapy. Treatment was very easy, almost benign. Worse effect for me was gas and loose stools, Gas X pretty much took care of that. When last I saw my doctor I asked him what the status of my cancer was. He said, that by any measure, I was cured as cured can be. His words. I give thanks to the Lord that this treatment is available.
Well those give you the strength of 10 men for 10 seconds.
I was wondering if anyone would catch that. (Actually it was the strength of 20 atom bombs for a period of 20 seconds.)
Obviously it’s been too long since I watched any Roger Ramjet.
Same here, 50 years or so. Some things just stay with you.
The equipment used in proton beam therapy costs between $30 million and $40 million. So no medical center is going to invest in one unless they are pretty sure they can attract the patients to pay for it. Chemo has a much lower overhead.
I’m 11 years in remission. 8 rounds of chemo. Long and Tough. But I’m above ground and got to see my kids graduate high school, become adults, marry my wife and still get to thank the lord for his miracles. Putting men and women in this world to research cancer treatments is a miracle from the lord.
“I’m 11 years in remission. 8 rounds of chemo....”
Amen, my brother!
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