Getting a cancer diagnosis can be a terrifying thing, there is absolutely no doubt about it. However, there is hope in proton radiation therapy, a type of cancer treatment that more and more cancer patients are undergoing. Proton radiation therapy is even now often recommended over other more traditional types of radiation therapy for a number of reasons.
For one, proton radiation therapy is much safer for your body as a whole. While proton treatment works by targeting the invading cancer cells, it is important to note that it leaves the other unaffected parts of your body relatively unscathed, particularly in comparison to traditional methods of radiation treatment. For instance, your gastrointestinal system will receive nearly sixty percent less radiation during proton radiation therapy than it would during other types of radiation therapy. Your heart will also be spared – and it is likely that no radiation at all will reach it. On top of this, your lungs will also be kept away from as much radiation as possible, and will experience as much as fifty percent LESS radiation that what they would be exposed to had you pursued a more traditional course of radiation.
Proton radiation therapy is the ideal form of cancer treatment for treating prostate cancer as well as for treatment for breast cancer, both of which have had immensely positive results and outcomes after a course of proton radiation therapy. This can perhaps be seen most starkly in the results garnered from prostate cancer patients. For low risk prostate cancer patients who went through a full course of proton radiation therapy, more than ninety nine percent were still in remission and good health a full five years later. Even those who had been diagnosed with intermediate risk prostate cancer had an immensely positive outcome, with very nearly ninety five percent of such patients still experiencing good health after the five year mark. Even if you have been diagnosed with high risk prostate cancer, your odds are good, as very nearly seventy five percent of all high risk prostate cancer patients have achieved remission for five years or more after undergoing proton radiation therapy.
And the quality of life of the prostate cancer patient who has undergone proton therapy is good. The vast majority of prostate cancer patients who seek more traditional forms of radiation are all too likely to experience impotence, but the same is simply not true for those who have undergone proton radiation therapy. In fact, more than ninety percent were able to resume a somewhat normal if not completely normal sex life, thus helping to ensure a higher overall quality of life for former cancer patients who were treated with proton radiation therapy (often in conjunction with other types of cancer treatments and therapies). For those who are looking at their prostate cancer options, it is highly advisable to consider proton radiation therapy in conjunction (or even on its own, depending on the stage of your cancer).
