More on the “Prostate Book”
OK. On my way to and from Alaska last week, in flight I read Dr. Scardino’s Prostate Book – twice. Below are my opinions based upon my personal experiences and observations. Published in 2005 it is full of useful information, however it is incomplete!
Dr. Scardino admits in his book that refers often to Memorial Sloan-Kettering treatments, as he says, “doctors tend to be biased in favor of what they do.”
It appears from the text in the book that Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s distinguished urologists and radiation doctors have not thoroughly studied the advantages of Protons. I believe if they had met with Drs. James M. Slater, the founder of Proton Therapy at Loma Linda or Jerry Slater, the Chairman of the Proton Treatment center at Loma Linda they may have provided more information on Protons. This superior Proton therapy is barely and incorrectly acknowledged on less than a page in a 425 page book.
Doctors JAMES & JERRY Slater at Loma Linda and their colleagues are the world leaders in the use of Protons to treat Prostate cancer and in addition many other tumors both malignant and benign.
This is a correctable research failure, I speak as one of the 7,000 men treated with Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer at Loma Linda in 1999. In my case, I have none of the side effects described in the “Prostate Book”, over 5 years and 9 months post treatment completed on August 27, 1999.
Further, if you only consider options for Prostate Cancer described in the ”Prostate Book” you must logically conclude that the centers linked on my web site www.prostateproton.com are lesser effective options. I don’t think so. With Loma Linda in California, Mass. General in Boston, and MPRI in Bloomington, Indiana currently functioning, and with The RINECKER PROTON TREATMENT CENTER IN MUNICH, GERMANY IN START-UP, MD Anderson (Read the current June 2005 Fortune Magazine) opening their Proton Center in January 2006, Shands Cancer in Jacksonville IN JULY 2006, and others (UNIV. OF PENN, COLUMBIA PRESBYTERIAN, ETC. ALONG WITH SEVENTEEN MORE AROUND THE WORLD), PROTON THERAPY IS CLEARLY A TECHNOLOGY WHOSE TIME HAS COME.
Contrary to what is written in the Prostate Book, page 305, Proton therapy is not “Extraordinarily cumbersome” but elegant and simple. I have studied everything Loma Linda experts have said and do not find so called ”extravagant claims” and wonder why the researchers for the book did not find the published papers that clearly state the efficacy of Proton Therapy, in fact there are 5, 7, and 10 year studies.
While I do not have any side effects, I am sure that depending on each individual physical condition and medical history on entering the program that results can vary. Thirty men that I specifically sponsor, none have any side effects except some who have minor ED and they are over 80 years old.
I urge a meeting between Doctors Scardino, Fuks, Zelefsky and Leibel and Loma Linda Drs. James. M. Slater, Jerry Slater and the doctor who treated me, Dr. Carl Rossi Jr., so the MSK can expand their radiation thinking and recognize that IMRT is X-Ray/PHOTON treatment without a significant track record, and Protons are not X-rays and have A COMPREHENSIVE, HALF CENTURY OF DATA.
Further, I believe that by mid-fall a protocol should be established to run similar patients side by side who have IMRT and Protons with a target five year and ten year results with a minimum of 1,500 patients in each discipline. I am sure that Protons will hold their own and prove convincingly that there are fewer side effects with this therapy.
”The Prostate Book” is a very informative book, clarifies many rumors and tales about the prostate and urges an extremely important second opinion.
It is very weak on the subject of Proton Therapy but of course, that is not what the book is selling!
My hope is that my suggestions are accepted and that Dr. Scardino will offer these additional thoughts on his web sites at www.drscardino.com or www.theprostatebook.com.
