Facts about Proton Therapy

·        The most accurate form of radiation treatment accessible now is proton therapy.

·        The primary tumor location is destroyed while the surrounding healthy tissue and organs are left untouched.

·        Many of the common side effects of conventional x-ray radiation are avoided.

·        Is a non-invasive, painless technique that is performed as an outpatient procedure.

·        Allows patients to live a normal life while receiving treatment. Patients are free to engage in usual activities such as golf or tennis, swimming, walking, running, or other forms of exercise.

·        Is a highly effective treatment for a variety of head and neck cancers, as well as lung, prostate, bladder, spinal cord, gastro malignancies, and ocular tumors.

·        It's possible to use it with other cancer treatments like chemotherapy.

·        Depending on the tumor site, it can take anywhere from five days to eight weeks.

·        For pediatric situations, it is a highly favoured radiation treatment option. Because their tissues and organs are still growing, children are vulnerable to the effects of conventional x-ray radiation.

·        Medicare and most health-care insurance companies cover it.

Proton beam radiation therapy

Proton therapy is a radiation therapy that uses tiny particles called protons. Protons are excellent cell killers, but because of the way protons deliver their energy, proton therapy does not damage as much healthy tissue as much as photon therapy. Therefore, a higher dose of radiation can be targeted at the tumour without affecting many normal healthy cells.

Proton beam cancer treatment

Available at APOLLO PROTON CANCER CENTER CHENNAI , TAMIL NADU , INDIA 

Risk factors for rectal cancer are as follows:

Smoking

Family history of CRC (colorectal cancer)

Familial syndromes like FAP (familial adenomatous polyposis coli) or HNPCC (Hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer)

Large and regular consumption of red and processed meat

Inflammatory bowel disease especially Ulcerative colitis

Obesity

proton beam radiation -  Radiation therapy is a form of cancer treatment where cancer cells are destroyed using high-energy X-rays or particles such as protons. It is a painless and non-invasive local treatment which damages the DNA of the cancer cells and leads to death of the cancer cells in the area irradiated. It is usually given from a machine outside the body (called external-beam radiation therapy). It is one among the pillars of cancer treatment (others being surgery, chemotherapy, precision oncology, immunotherapy) which has been used for more than a century.

Pencil beam scanning technology and IMPT are the latest technology in proton therapy. With a proton beam just millimeters wide, these advanced forms of proton therapy combine precision and effectiveness, offering unmatched ability to treat a patient’s tumour and minimizing effect on a patient’s quality of life – during and after treatment. They rely on complex treatment planning systems and an intricate number of magnets to aim a narrow proton beam and essentially “paint” a radiation dose layer by layer.

What is Proton Therapy?

Proton therapy, also called proton beam therapy, maybe a sort of radiotherapy. It uses protons instead of x-rays to treat cancer. A proton is a positively charged particle. At high energy, protons can destroy cancer cells.

How does proton therapy work?

The high speed of the protons creates high energy. This energy makes the protons visit the specified depth within the body. The protons then give the targeted radiation dose within the tumor. With proton therapy, there's less radiation dose outside the tumor. In regular radiotherapy, x-rays still give radiation doses as they leave the person's body. Proton therapy is useful for treating cancer that has not spread and is near important parts of the body. It is also used for treating children because it lessens the prospect of harming healthy, growing tissue.

Types of Cancer can be treated with Proton Therapy are:

Central nervous system cancers

Eye cancer

Head and neck cancers

Lung cancer

Liver cancer

Prostate cancer

Spinal and pelvic sarcomas

Noncancerous brain tumors

Risks and benefits:

Compared with x-ray radiotherapy, proton therapy has several benefits:

Usually, up to 60% less radiation can be delivered to the healthy tissues around the tumor.

This lowers the danger of radiation damage to those tissues. It may leave a better radiation dose to the tumor.

This increases the probabilities that each one of the tumor cells targeted by the proton therapy is going to be destroyed.

It may cause fewer and fewer severe side effects like low blood counts, fatigue, and nausea during and after treatment.

Some drawbacks to proton therapy:

Because proton therapy requires highly specialized and dear equipment.

It may cost more than x-ray radiation therapy.

Not all cancers are often treated with proton therapy.

Side Effects:

The treatment itself is painless. Afterward, you may experience fatigue. You may even have skin problems, including redness, irritation, swelling, dryness, or blistering and peeling.