Prostate Cancer Blog – Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer

The “Dedication” of the Roberts Proton Therapy Center in Philadelphia, PA., was held on November 23, 2009 and the staff expects to begin Patient Treatment by mid-winter.

To learn more about this Center you can read the latest news here.

“U Penn has partnerships with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the U.S. Department of Defense will allow pediatric cancer patients and U.S. military service members and their families to be treated at the Center”.

Let’s talk seriously about living to 85 years old and having an active life. About 1995 my wife received an autographed copy of “New Passages” by Gail Sheehy when we attended a talk by the author. She decried the parameter for middle age, stating that “adulthood, beginning at 21 and ending at 65″ was out of date. Her overview expects women and men to exceed the end of active life at 65 and go on to 90 or better.

So, if you are going to do what she envisions, let’s get after the cancer issue and use the Proton as a way to conquer this dreaded disease and expand your lifetime horizons.

I will be 80 in February 2010 and with a prostate cancer free life, so I’m already meeting some of Ms. Sheehy’s expectations.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

It’s great to see that Proton treatment for Prostate cancer is moving right along at the National Cancer Center (NCC) in Seoul, South Korea. We’ll add their information to our Links page. For your information, they also offer Tomotherapy, IMRT, and 3D Brachytherapy. Access to treatment at the NCC is immediate (no waiting).

As you know by now, my experience is only with Protons, where the X-ray is not used and the side effects are reduced. The main reason is that the X-ray is unstoppable and goes all the way through the body with some resultant tissue damage to adjacent tissue and/or tissue in the path. IMRT and Tomotherapy use the X-ray as the radiation vehicle. Brachytherapy uses radioactive seeds which have very short range radiation. Brachytherapy is often used in combination with X-rays, such as RCOG in Georgia.

Today, I’ve gone 10 years and 3 months since treatment without side effects – and on Jan 29th I celebrate 56 years of marriage. Loma Linda helped me see two new granddaughters. My physical in November 2009 was PSA 0.1 as it has been for over six of the past ten years.

My response time for questions about the Proton is normally less than 24 hours.