Tom Halsted has posted a very good summary on his experiences with being treated with Proton Therapy:
Worth the read. And love this graphic that accompanies the article explaining the Bragg Peak and how it differs from conventional x-rays:
Bragg Peak Graphs
We received this note today from Procure about a new Proton Center that’s being built in New Jersey:
“It’s a great day for cancer patients in the United States – ProCure Treatment Centers Inc. has broken ground on its third proton therapy center, in Somerset, N.J. This press release provides details about the groundbreaking of the ProCure Proton Therapy Center in New Jersey.
Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation treatment for cancer that does less damage to healthy tissue and has fewer short- and long-term side effects. It is an important cancer treatment option currently only available at seven centers in the country.”
It amazes me to read remarks from distinguished Oncologists, Radiologists, and Urologists who are selling their particular treatment for Prostate cancer.
One Radiation Oncologist (who ends his comments with “I know”) is dead wrong or dealing with old data.
And the costs estimates by these folks are all over the place. I would expect higher costs from the newer centers, but the costs tend to settle back to reasonable for the result, as time passes and competition increases. So let’s look at my take based on actual experience rather than conjecture or speculation which is often based on NO experience with Protons.
Here’s my take based on my personal experience and interviews with other patients who also chose “Protons” (with a “R”) for Prostate cancer.
My Prostate cancer showed up in January 1999 as a rise in my PSA from 3.6 to 12.6. I did not do anything about it until it my PSA went to 15.9 and 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.
As early as 1999, that was the best advice I’ve ever received.
The average age for Prostate Cancer in 1999 was 69 years old and I was 69 years old. In the “Support Group” meeting at Loma Linda I found that we had men in the program from 40 to 83 years old.
Today Medicare and most insurance companies still pay the bill and should forever. And, if there is a problem, the expert insurance staff at most Proton centers can help you.
“It’s April 1, 2010, I’m cancer free! I do not have any side effects whatsoever. In fact, I asked for a Colonoscopy after my Proton treatment from a local expert and it did not reveal ANY DAMAGE from this form of “Radiation” (Protons with an “R”)!
Talk to a PROTON EXPERT, at Loma Linda, CA; MD Anderson, Houston, TX; Proton Institute in Jacksonville, Florida, University of Pennsylvania’s new center, and others. Ultimately, you have to make the decision regarding your treatment. The “Links” on this site may help.
A new Procure Cancer Center using Protons just opened in Oklahoma City in July 2009! More are planned and on the way.
Almost all Urologist or surgeons recommend surgery and radiation oncologists “IMRT”, seeds (Brachytherapy, minimum low x-ray radiation) or traditional radiation with all of it’s new names.
The problem is that almost all radiation treatments use X-Rays up to and including “Cyberknife”. Protons on the other hand are NOT X-Rays, extremely accurate, and have the unique capability of being more precisely controlled for application to the cancer or benign tumor.
You can visit this website www.protonblog.com and watch the video about Protons first entered in the June 2009 Blog.
The FACTS are that Worldwide about 60,000 have been so treated with Protons for many cancerous and benign tumors. Loma Linda Proton center is the leader in this technology. The contact number for Loma Linda new patients is: (800) 496-4966.
A former Loma Linda employee and my friend Gerry Troy, University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute, (904) 588-1251 or mobile (904) 874-3040 ‘gtroy’ at floridaproton.org is a patient advocate at Jacksonville.
M.D. Anderson, the top rated Cancer Center in Texas, has a “Proton” center that opened in 2006.
Effectiveness and outcome of prostate treatment using protons (or almost any other treatment methodology), depends on your condition when being treated. I was 69 when treated in 1999, in good shape and now I am 80 (as of Feb. 4, 2010).
The results normally depend on your PSA, Gleason Score and Staging. My PSA was 15.9, my Gleason 6, my Staging T1c. In my last physical in Nov. 2009 my PSA is less than 0.1 as it has been for over six years.
Bob Marckini wrote the book You Can Beat Prostate Cancer And You Don’t Need Surgery to Do It, is available at www.protonbob.com, Amazon.com or LuLu Publications.
Since the MD Anderson’s Proton Center opened in mid-2006 and they have treated many patients with protons in fact, the first Proton treatment there was provided to a retired Air Force Colonel with “Lung cancer”.
I am not a Doctor, only a happy former patient, I HAVE NO SIDE EFFECTS! 10 YEARS, 7 MONTHS, post treatment. Seems like a no-brainer when you have a non-invasive treatment that works.
Those who do not favor protons obviously need to do their homework and learn what’s going on. For example, Mass General Hospital’s Proton center has used “Protons” since 1961 and began treating prostates in 1979, although today their focus is not on Protons for Prostate Cancer favoring Protons for other cancers and often focused on children.
The Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI) in Bloomington, IN has been in business for some time with protons and started on Prostate cancer in 2004. The Proton Institute University of Florida in Jacksonville, FL, is open, and I went to the opening on Oct. 13th 2006 and at that time met 15 men who had already been treated.
With Hampton University in Hampton Virginia open now, two in the Chicago area and the University of Pennsylvania open, and treating now, similar facilities along with the Siteman Cancer Center in St Louis, and two new centers in Oklahoma City (one now open), along with a Proton center in Miami this is the rapidly growing approach to treat Prostate Cancer and many other cancers and benign tumors.
In fact you will also find a link to Protons in South Korea here.
Loma Linda, where I was treated, treats many other diseases with protons including:
Choroidal Melanoma, Pituitary, Acoustic Neuroma, Meningioma, Astrocytoma, Other Brain, Head and Neck, Prostate, Other Pelvis, Craniopharyngioma, Orbital, Paraspinal Tumors, Chordoma/Chondrosacoma, Sarcoma, Other chest, AVM, Other Abdominal, SNVM, Breast, Lung Liver.
I merely relate my experience and do not receive pay of any kind to tell people about my successful experience with Protons. Although I study Protons from one to three hours daily since 1999, here’s my caveat!
NO MEDICAL ADVICE: Material appearing here represents opinions offered by non-medically-trained laypersons. Comments shown here should NEVER be interpreted as specific medical advice and must be used only as background information when consulting with a qualified medical professional.
E-mail me. I usually respond to you in one hour or less.
In my prior blog post (Feb. 13, 2010) I answered the question “Where can you find out about Proton Therapy?” because so many Prostate cancer diagnosed patients never hear of it.
Since some of you may not visit the home page of my web site, here is important information from that page:
“Dr. James Slater MD had the vision and was the impetus for starting Proton treatment in a University environment at Loma Linda, Ca. and he recognized that Protons [with an “R”] act differently than conventional three dimensional radiation or IMRT (and many other disguises) that use focused Photons (X-Rays) and all other modalities that use X-Rays.”
A very important difference and this June 24th, 2009 blog post includes a video explaining how the proton works. Please look at the information concerning the “Bragg Peak” and how its action relates to Proton treatment and the proton’s accuracy. It takes the right tools to do the job and Loma Linda has the tools and “leading edge” experience with Prostate Cancer, treating over 9,500 men through 2009 for Prostate cancer and over 14,000 for other cancers and benign conditions.
Simply put, X-rays (using Photons with an “H”) cannot be controlled and go through the body while Protons with an “R” can be completely controlled to hit the cancerous target and then drop to zero charge eliminating any out bound damage to other tissue.
Bob Marckini wrote the book “You Can Beat Prostate Cancer And You Don’t Need Surgery to Do It” and it is available at www.protonbob.com, Amazon.com or LuLu Publications.
Go to my home page, read the “Links” and find out how to contact me by email. I usually respond to you in one hour or less.
A recent study publicized recently seems to indicate that learning about Prostate cancer treatment depends on who you visit to provide Prostate Cancer care.
I read, and or talk about Protons every day for at least three hours or more seven days a week to keep up to speed on what’s happening and I find that the kind of treatment may be recommended may depend on what the local hospital can do on site rather than what is available if you know where to look.
THAT IS WHAT THIS WEBSITE IS ALL ABOUT.
I want you to go to www.protonbob.com and read the many testimonies that are there all from actual Proton patients who, like me, want to spread the good news.
A few years ago I wrote a Blog post about the responsibility of Doctors to know all the treatments that work and tell the patient so he or she can make their own decision based on what is right for their situation; so ask them about Protons.
I read recently that the Northern Illinois University Proton site may be in funding trouble and will be delayed. That’s too bad since it is almost located on top of Fermi Labs in West Chicago where the medical value of the Proton was first identified by Dr. Wilson. The laboratory was founded in 1967 as the National Accelerator Laboratory; it was renamed in honor of Enrico Fermi in 1974. The lab’s first director was Robert Rathbun Wilson, who was part of the Manhattan Project.
The picture to the right is Robert R. Wilson Hall located in West Chicago.
Go to my home page read the “Links” and find out how to contact me by E-mail. I usually respond to you in one hour or less.
I have never been satisfied that anything works better for Prostate cancers that are not metastatic (and if localized) than Protons.
So I asked my friend Jerry Klein, master of photography, and who has a Ph.D. in Chemistry, who was treated for Prostate cancer in 2000 at Loma Linda what he had to say. The following are his observations:
“I find the IMRT thing a scam. It is X-Ray treatment and they have renamed and repackaged it make it sound new and dodge the reputation of X-Ray treatment. Proton treatment of the prostate dissipates 70% of the radiation in the gland and targeted margins, a much higher percentage than X-Rays or any other neutral radiation. This is enormously significant because safety limits the amount of radiation that our bodies can tolerate.
The sad tale of neutron radiation treatment at Stanford University attests to dangers of too high dosages…neutral radiation is not special! And don’t let anyone scam you into believing that the treatments you are considering have anything like the low side effects of protons or higher or even comparable cure rates.
I have never encountered any proton patients with stories comparable to those that I get from those who had these other treatments.
The side effects are terrible and affect quality of life forever. When I was being treated patients were there for salvage after failed surgery, cryo, etc. They all wished they had chosen protons. If you have metastatic disease none of the treatments that you mention will provide a cure…yes, there are therapies that have promise, but none that I know of that really stop the disease. And if the disease is localized cures are almost certainly 100%. It would be nice if a test that absolutely determines whether the disease is localized exists, but so far as I know there is none.
The scams all have their origin in the enormous profits that are on the table. So many urologists continue to call proton therapy experimental, unproven, dangerous…so sad, so unprofessional, so common and flat out unethical.
-Jerry Klein (Ph. D., Chemistry)”
Back to statements I have made in the past, it is the responsibility of Urologists and other Doctors to know all viable treatments that are available so the patient can make his own decision on the right treatment for him.
On the 27th of January 2010 I will complete 10 years and five months of success due to the professional experts at Loma Linda University and Medical Center and my fine Doctor Carl Rossi – without any side effects!
Go to my home page and find out how to contact me on E-mail. I usually respond to you in one hour or less.
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.
We need to emphasize that the current health care debate seems to ignore the fact that medicine is moving in the direction of focusing on older, more active people.
When new medical techniques are coupled with the “Nano-Technolgy” that is already underway, they guarantee a population that will live longer and healthier and be productive far beyond all current thinking.
It is a fact that yesterday’s retirement age has been projected at least twenty or more years longer than our own parents would ever believe. I’ve read studies that predict life spans out to 110 years old.
We need to get Proton Therapy recognized and implemented and through the IRON gates erected by the current medical profession. I detest the thought that if we don’t have it, then it must be worthless, an attitude demonstrated continually by some members of the medical profession. The Urologist who told one of my friends that the Proton was “Witchcraft” needs to be called to the carpet.
There was a short clip in the Wall Street Journal in the past week wherein Mr. Newt Gingrich told about a desperate couple who found a new cure for their son’s disease. He said it was the Proton and then called it “Unproven”.
As of today that are about 60,000 people worldwide who could disagree but, since I don’t speak for them I can only state that I disagree and the People who have been treated with “Protons” at Loma Linda University and Medical Center’ Proton Center (LLUMC) alone, now number over 14,000.
The Proton is proven in my case and in the case of many other men and at least one woman I have spoken to who was cured of “Lung cancer” after three major medical centers had told her she had ninety days left on this earth. She told me that the last stop was at the Mayo Clinic where the Doctor there agreed that she had ninety days however, told her to check out LLUMC where they had a new system for treatment. She did and when she talked to me she said that was over five years ago.
So, I must assume that Mr. Gingrich asked about Protons and must have run into a Doctor who was selling something else. I remember one man who was successfully treated with Protons despite the fact that his Urologist called it “Witchcraft”.
More Proton centers in Tennessee, New Hampshire, and the United Kingdom are in the works. For your info, they have a low-energy proton center at the Clatterbridge Hospital that is limited as to the types of cancer they can treat.
Read “The Edge of Medicine” – you can order it at most booksellers and it starts with the Proton Center about to open in Philadelphia and goes on to the miracles of “Nano-technology” that are coming.
I am happy; I HAVE NO SIDE EFFECTS OVER ten years since treatment with Protons at LLUMC.
