Prostate Cancer

[contentuser]

Radiation Therapy


Two types of radiation therapy are used to treat prostate cancer: brachytherapy and external radiation therapy (XRT).
Brachytherapy

This treatment involves implanting tiny, radioactive capsules (called "seeds") into the cancerous prostate gland. The seeds emit radiation that kills the malignant tumor. Men with small tumors confined to the prostate (stage T1 or T2) are candidates for brachytherapy.

Transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) is used to create a three-dimensi...Read the full article

[RoadLessGraveled]

Proton beam is a form of radiation treatment that is becoming the "Gold Standard" in prostate cancer radiation treatment. As effective as surgery, hormones or focused beam (photon) treatment but with far less side effects. There are only 5 Proton Beam clinics in the US currently, but several more are being built, and more are planned. It has been used on prostate cancer since 1990.
Websearch for "Proton Beam Loma Linda"

[contentuser]

Healthcommunities.com, Inc., (HC) Editors Note:

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According to the National Cancer Institute:

"Proton beam therapy is a type of particle beam radiation therapy. Protons deposit their energy over a very small area, which is called the Bragg peak. The Bragg peak can be used to target high doses of proton beam therapy to a tumor while doing less damage to normal tissues in front of and behind the tumor. Proton beam therapy is available at only a few facilities in the United States. Its use is generally reserved for cancers that are difficult or dangerous to treat with surgery (such as a chondrosarcoma at the base of the skull), or it is combined with other types of radiation. Proton beam therapy is also being used in clinical trials for intraocular melanoma (melanoma that begins in the eye), retinoblastoma (an eye cancer that most often occurs in children under age 5), rhabdomyosarcoma (a tumor of the muscle tissue), some cancers of the head and neck, and cancers of the prostate, brain, and lung."

According to the American Cancer Society:

"…conformal proton beam radiation therapy, uses proton beams instead of x-rays. Protons are parts of atoms that cause little damage to tissues they pass through but are very good at killing cells at the end of their path. This means that proton beam radiation may be able to deliver more radiation to the cancer while reducing side effects on nearby normal tissues. Protons can only be put out by a special machine called a cyclotron or synchrotron. Installing this machine costs millions of dollars and requires expert staff. Because of this, proton beam therapy can be expensive. As of late 2006, fewer than half a dozen treatment centers in the United States offer it. Others are trying to get the equipment so that they can use proton beam therapy in the near future. More studies are needed to compare outcomes between proton and photon treatment so that each is used for the cancer type it works best for."

According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation:

"In some centers, proton-based therapy is used during IMRT rather than the more traditional photon-based therapy. Although early studies have shown that oncologists may be able to manipulate these beams even more precisely, this technology is not yet widely available."

[brianna102]

Treatment options for prostate cancer with intent to cure are primarily surgery and radiation therapy. Other treatments such as hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, proton therapy, cryosurgery, high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) also exist depending on the clinical scenario and desired outcome.

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brianna

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