Prostate Cancer Blog – Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer

My brother-in-law finishes up at Loma Linda’s Proton Facility this month and tells me that the LLUMC staff at the Proton center and the overall staff at this wonderful facility have impressed him in every way, from knowledge to service for the patient.

In the meantime I have been reading a number of the available medical advice papers that lists Radiation Therapy, Hormone Therapy, Surgery, Cryoablation, and last “old Faithful” Watchful Waiting. The unfortunate facts are that these suggestions are not uncommon and once again, Proton radiation is not mentioned on these pamphlets.

In fact, the following quote seems to decide for the men who are diagnosed; that “surgery” is the answer!?

“Prostate cancer is the second leading cancer killer of American men, and 1 in 6 will be diagnosed with the disease during their lifetime. In 2012, more than 240,000 men will get the chilling diagnosis — and then be faced with the decision of whether or not to undergo surgery.”

My personal experience tells me to say “no” to surgery, a course of action that was suggested to me in 1999 by my Urologist in Texas. By pure luck I met a Doctor in Fort Worth, Texas who told me in specific terms – “Go to Loma Linda’s Proton Center, that’s where they kill cancer.”

Hard to find fault with a treatment that took my 15.6 PSA down to 0.1 in August 1999, where it has stayed to this date!

Two months ago, it was the Medicare agency, AHRQ, that released a report based on shoddy, unscientific, retrospective study, using billing codes to compare morbidity outcomes from prostate cancer treatments. The study concluded that IMRT is just as good as proton, and if produced significantly fewer rectal side effects. This “Study” contradicted all other, scientific, peer-reviewed, prospective studies on proton therapy. No attempt was made to rationalize these differences or even acknowledge them.

The U.S. Preventive Service Task Force (USPSTF) the same group that abandoned mammograms for women- has made it official. They are formally recommending that PSA testing be discontinued because they feel it doesn’t save lives, it may be harming men and costing lives. Remember, before PSA testing physicians would not treat the disease until it presented symptoms, such as problems with urine flow, blood in the urine etc.
How barbaric! Since many times the delay waiting until symptoms show up, the disease is typically advanced. In my own case I left a job in Singapore with a 3.6 PSA in January 1999 and had a biopsy that spring showing my PSA rising from 3.6 to 12.6. I did not do anything about it until it my PSA went to 15.9and then I was advised by a friend of mine who is a Doctor to go to Loma Linda for PROTON treatment. I never heard of Proton treatment prior to his statement. Look at the videos on this web site and learn!
That was the best advice I’ve ever received. Let me repeat, I have NO side effects and I was treated from July to 27 August 1999. Let’s see, that would be 13 years ago in August 2012 –13 years.
The remarkable “Protons” are here to stay and PSA tests are essential!

We were pleased to be recognized this month as one of the top Prostate blog sites on the web. We were notified by HealthLine, a health related web site dedicated to offering trusted, accurate education and decision support resources.

Along with Prostate Blog, these 13 other sites were recognized:

• His Prostate Cancer
• Women Against Prostate Cancer (WAPC)
• Prostate Cancer Journey
• Advanced Robotic Techniques Prostatectomy
• Prostate Cancer – Our Journey!
• The Big “C”
• Cycle for Life
• Malecare Advanced Prostate Cancer Program
• The Palpable Prostate
• My New York Minute
• God and Prostate
• The Prostate Cancer Pony Express
• Conquer Prostate Cancer