Prostate Cancer Blog – Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Let’s start with what’s important – A second opinion from a Proton expert explaining the Proton option is extremely important.

Today, January 27th 2009, I complete 9 years and five months since treatment for Prostate Cancer in 1999 at Loma Linda’s James M. Slater Proton Center. During this period I have been blessed with two new granddaughters

There is an article floating around citing the cost or Proton Centers and the treatment – my take on that is the fact that I do not require continuous follow-up and routinely find out about my Prostate through a PSA test that comes with my annual physical with my regular doctor. When the treatment does the job as it should, the cost of follow-up and overall cost is lower.
I have met many men who are constantly visiting their Urologist for various recommendations regarding urinary incontinence, any man should know that with radiation therapy using X-Rays, possible side effects include incontinence, the loss of control over the release of urine, and impotence, the inability to get or sustain an erection.

Of course the cure for severe incontinence can be “sometimes” corrected with surgery. Luckily Protons are so accurate using the “Bragg Peak”, that they hit the cancer and then drop to zero radiation minimizing any damage and/or side effects.

I have not had any bowel problems, fatigue, or tissue damage from my treatment with Proton Radiation.

Starting with a PSA of 15.9 in 1999, my last physical Nov. 2008 PSA is 0.1.

“Protons” are the best choice for medical treatment of any kind that I have ever made in my life! Philadelphia, PA.and Hampton, VA., are opening soon.

Pay attention! – A second opinion from a Proton expert explaining the Proton option is extremely important!

What a great Christmas gift to be cancer free at the start of 2009 when in August 2009 I will complete ten cancer free years.

Dr. Hanson’s book “The Edge Of Medicine” has so many of my tabs in it that I’ve had to color code them for my personal priorities. His enthusiasm for the new Roberts Proton Therapy Center, in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine at the Hospital for the University of Pennsylvania is exciting and reflects the growing truths about this wonderful medical capability.

His statement: “In fact, one of the advantages of proton therapy over standard x-rays is that the proton beam’s radiation so thoroughly ravages the tumor’s DNA that it’s ordinary repair mechanisms are completely ineffective.” My information from Loma Linda is that the proton hits the cancer cell hard and destroys it’s DNA. The result is that the DNA ladder reconstructs with a normal non-cancerous cell.

My trip last month to Loma Linda was re-assuring as they continue to expand the uses of the Proton and lead the way in experience with patients treated.

My key point is related to my experience –
– I do not have prostate cancer.
– I do not have any side effects.
– My current PSA is 0.1

ASK your doctor about Protons and if he doesn’t know about them contact me and I’ll insure that you get an answer from someone who does know and has the information so you can make your own choice.

Protons are the best choice for medical treatment I have ever made in my life!

Jim Tuggey
December 26, 2008

My PSA on November 17th, 2008 is 0.1 and there is NO evidence of disease by physical exam. Nine years, 2 months and 20 days after being treated with Protons at Loma Linda, CA – and those are my current results.

New Proton Centers are emerging in 2009, 2010 and 2012 and uses for the Proton are expanding to many body sites. Loma Linda’s Proton experts are leading the way with over 8,500 men treated for Prostate Cancer alone and nearly 5,000 others with Protons for various cancerous and benign tumors at Loma Linda.

All the existing centers are making advances in their use of the Proton and I personally stay in fairly close contact with the Proton Institute in Jacksonville, Florida largely due to my friend and patient advocate there, Mr. Gerry Troy.

When I consider the fact that I have seen the birth of two new granddaughters since treatment in 1999, it’s a wonderful result.

Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute (HUPTI), Hampton, Virginia claims to be the World’s Largest Free-Standing Proton Therapy Center, expects to begin patient treatment in 2010.

ProCure Treatment Centers plans openings in Boca Raton, Florida, Boca Raton Proton Therapy, LLC (BRPT), Oklahoma, Illinois, and Michigan. Oklahoma City is well on the way.

DO NOT let detractors keep you from this positive experience – many I have heard about are protecting their current business interests and if the Hippocratic Oath, an oath traditionally taken by physicians pertaining to the ethical practice of medicine, means anything – your doctor should have the information so you can make your own choice.

It’s not the doctor’s cancer, it’s all yours.

And yet, the prestigious medical centers continue to generally ignore the Proton. They focus on the following and while Protons might get a line or two in their papers it’s not much. The big four to most experts are:

1. Expectant Management
2. Brachytherapy
3. Radical Prostatectomy
4. External Beam Radiation Therapy

(with the exception of Proton all seem to be X-Ray based.)

Nine years and one month ago, I was treated for Prostate Cancer at Loma Linda University’s Proton Treatment Center, in California, started on July 6, 1999 and finished on August 27th, 1999. Each day, the actual Proton treatment was less than 5 minutes.

Traditional radiation treatments use X-Rays from 3-D and Brachytherapy up to and including “Cyberknife”. Protons are NOT X-Rays, and have the unique capability of being more precisely controlled for application to the cancer or benign tumor. So X-Rays cannot be stopped once started and therefore do some damage, no matter how minuscule, to healthy tissue.

I believe that a comparisons “Randomized Clinical Trials after 50,000 or so have already been treated worldwide with Protons, is simply a political decision with the heat coming from those doctors who do not have the Proton capability or have a treatment stake driven in other treatments and do not want buy this capability.
I am not insane and I would not submit to a trial where there was any possibility of inferior treatment when I knew that Protons were available. I am not a Doctor, only a happy former patient, I HAVE NO SIDE EFFECTS! 9 YEARS, 1 MONTH, post treatment.

“Market Forces” will come into play as more Proton Centers are added to the medical community and cost reductions based increased availability and changes in the customer base. The fact that I have not seen an urologist regarding anything related to my Proton treatment for over 8 years, is in itself a cost reduction. Protons are the rapidly growing approach to treat Prostate Cancer and many other diseases with Protons as below and should not be denied to anyone.

Protons are the real deal and treat Choroidal Melanoma, Pituitary, Acoustic Neuroma, Meningioma, Astrocytoma, Other Brain, Head & Neck, Prostate, Other Pelvis, Craniopharyngioma, Orbital, Paraspinal Tumors, Chordoma/Chondrosacoma, Sarcoma, Other chest, AVM, Other Abdominal, SNVM, Breast, Lung, & Liver.

What exciting news!

All kinds of new ideas are emerging regarding Prostate cancer including a recommendation that the medical profession stop taking PSA’s from men over 75.

Another group says that Protons are too expensive for Prostate Treatment when other modalities will do and that they should focus on more difficult cancers with the existing capability.

Last, those who have their business threatened by new Proton Centers are working hard to discredit Protons and have made some outlandish statements and comparisons that vary widely from the current 2008 facts.

Of course, those of us who have had Proton treatment almost always have a different point of view and already know that Protons are used in treating MANY other body sites. In fact, if you’ve read the MD Anderson reports you’d know that almost the very first patient for their new center was a retired Colonel, treated for “lung cancer”.

In my case, I just go to my Doctor for routine physicals and he looks at my PSA and does a DRE as part of my annual. The lack of repeated trips to a Urologist in my case mitigates the cost of Protons when so many men I have met are in and out of their Urologist office often.

Then there is a group that insist that we do a study to verify the efficacy of the Proton, however, I would think you’d have to be out of you mind to chance a Placebo in a Randomized test. There is plenty of information around on the Proton including five, ten and fifteen year reports from Loma Linda and more to come as these wonderful centers come on line.

Last, as more centers come on line, our beautiful “Market Forces” will dictate the cost and establish new price parameters. Note that the Siteman Cancer Center in Saint Louis, MO expects to be on-line in 2009.

NBC’s George Lewis appeared on NBC TV with a report on his experience at Loma Linda’s Proton Treatment center. The link may not be available for long if not accessed quickly.

[flashvideo filename=”http://msnbcecn.vo.llnwd.net/e1/video/flash/tdy_lewis_cancer_080730.flv” image=”images/splash.png /]
Nine years ago this August 27th, 2008 I was treated for Prostate Cancer at Loma Linda University’s Proton Treatment Center, in California. The treatment involved 40 work days for about 30 minutes including undressing, into a hospital gown, treatment and re-dressing, started on July 6, 1999 and finished on August 27th, 1999. Each day, the actual Proton treatment was less than 5 minutes. I understand now August, 2008 that the treatment length is 45 work days.

My case is explained on my web site at www.prostateproton.com and further via the “links” page. Another powerful web site is Proton Bob where many testimonies from men who were treated with protons can be read. Bob Marckini runs this site.

Based on my personal experience at Loma Linda, proton treatment in my opinion, and that of many others treated with protons whom I have met, is the new Gold standard without the unpleasant side effects often mentioned in articles on other “radiation” or surgery of any kind. I firmly believe that the “detractors” are SELLING what they have and see Protons as a threat.

If you follow the money you would be impressed by the funds allocated to the new Proton centers coming on line as you read. University of Pennsylvania, Hampton University, Northern Illinois University, a center under development at Oklahoma City and funding for the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis Missouri to build a Proton facility.

Note: “Jeffrey Bradley, MD, associate professor of radiation oncology, has been named the first director of the Kling Center for Proton Therapy, a facility for treating cancer patients with a new, highly precise form of radiation therapy. The center is scheduled to open in summer 2009 at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.”

Good news for the “to be” diagnosed.

The Roberts Proton Therapy Center in Pennsylvania, opening in 2009 is advertised as the “largest” in the world and there are enough “qualifiers” to verify that in 2009.

However, the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute (HUPTI) in Virginia opening in 2010 also claims to be the “largest proton treatment facility in the world”.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma through ProCure plans to open a Proton Center in 2009 and they make no claims as to size.

From my point of view, I don’t care, I’m just thrilled that the “coming on line” of these three new Proton Centers is imminent.

My opinion, based on my personal experience at Loma Linda in 1999, and that of many others treated with protons whom I have met, is that proton therapy is the new Gold Standard. It is a treatment without the unpleasant side effects often mentioned in articles on other forms of “radiation” or surgery of any kind.

Just ask your doctor a simple question, “Is the Radiation you propose based on X-Rays as the primary radiation treatment?” If that answer is Yes! and unless it is Protons, that will be the answer, meaning that you are going to have some degree of tissue damage as the X-rays are unstoppable once applied.

Protons on the other hand are completely controllable and with minor additional precautions my personal results from treatment that ended 8 years and 10th months ago are wonderful.

Every day, someone else contacts me about this treatment, normally saying that they never heard of it until they read my website www.prostateproton.com or www.protonbob.com.

Every day I thank GOD that I found about Protons in early 1999.

Exciting news as West Chicago breaks ground for a new Proton center at Northern Illinois University on Thursday June 19th. “The Northern Illinois Proton Treatment and Research Center”.

This center will be close to the “Fermilab”, originally named the National Accelerator Laboratory, which was commissioned by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, under a bill signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on November 21, 1967. Founding Director Robert R. Wilson committed the laboratory to firm principles of scientific excellence, esthetic beauty, stewardship of the land, fiscal responsibility and equality of opportunity. The Universities Research Association built the laboratory, and has operated the facility under those principles since its founding.

Robert R. Wilson was credited as the key man in recognizing the medical potential for the “Proton” that is now used so successfully in treating many Cancers including Prostate cancer.

Progress University of Pennsylvania Robert’s Proton Therapy Center selected facts: (credit – U PA Information)

• First patients expected to be treated in the Summer of 2009
• Approximately 75,000 square feet, located in a mostly underground building interconnected to PENN’s Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine and PENN’s new, conventional Department of Radiation Oncology
• Center projected to treat 3,000 patients a year, including several hundred children, continuing the historically close relationship between UPHS and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Facility will be capable of supporting 14 stories above it for future expansion

The Robert’s Proton Therapy Center will be…

• The first such facility in the mid-Atlantic Region.
• The first in the world to be fully integrated, on-site, with a renowned cancer center, the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
• The first proton therapy center to be located on the campus of a world-class academic medical center, facilitating pioneering scientific research to measure and improve this innovative therapy.
• The first facility with precise imaging integrated onto the proton equipment, allowing physicians to know precise tumor location at the exact moment of treatment.

I was treated at Loma Linda for Prostate cancer in 1999. My free 9 year old web site is dedicated to informing men about Protons – www.prostateproton.com. I have been without side effects from Proton treatment whatsoever, for 8 years and nine months since being treated. Loma Linda is a key leader in Proton Therapy.
Jim Tuggey June 10, 2008

Culley C. Carson, MD, FACS, Esteemed Doctor at the University of North Carolina spoke on a Video regarding Quality of Life After Primary Treatment for Prostate Cancer. [ref: Medscape Urology Tue 4/15/2008.]

Dr. Carson’s video presentation is excellent, however he didn’t mention “Protons” and, what does that mean?

I don’t know, but I suspect that this distinguished Doctor’s entire experience has been with modalities other than Protons and evidently no one in his references looked at the nearly 10,000 men treated by Protons to date.

One of the men I recently met at Loma Linda says it best: “If it ain’t the product of a randomized, double-blind, peer-reviewed clinical trial, it ain’t medicine.”

I believe that no one in his right mind would submit to such a study once they knew about protons results as compared to the other options, especially reduced to No side effects.”

With the word about Protons rapidly spreading the near term dilemma may be how to meet the demand! (The next Proton Center on line will probably be the University of Pennsylvania effort next year.)

My Proton Alma Mater is already feeling the strain of more people learning about Protons. I believe research funding is too slow when this powerful and vital Proton tool is available for many cancer and benign tumors.

Recently some of our major new agencies focused on cost, but who has focused on the cost of continuous treatment for side effects relative to NONE? My friends and I believe that as new Proton centers come on line, cost will reflect market forces and reach lower plateaus.

The Proton is not going away – so stand by for the latest news and information stating where the new centers will be built.

Jim Tuggey
April 17, 2008