Protons 101: Prostate Cancer – Too many choices, not enough direction.
Note: Today is an opinion piece on options for prostate cancer. It is MUCH more opinion based than some other entries on the blog – just a note. I still think the topic is valuable and writing these helps me to organize my thinking. Today, we’ll look at options for prostate cancer and talk about […]
Read MoreProtons 101: What is radiation therapy?
DISCLAIMER / About the Blog – Please read once if you haven’t. The Three Primary Treatment Options for Cancer Patients The 3 main oncology (cancer) physician specialties are: Surgical Oncology: removes the cancer or the majority of it with an operation Radiation Oncology: destroys the cancer cells with radiation damage Medical Oncology: chemotherapy or whole […]
Read MoreProtons 101: Is Proton Therapy the best radiation option for me?
DISCLAIMER / About the Blog – Please read once if you haven’t. Today we will touch on really one the first questions that a cancer patient might have – are protons right for me? Notice that in that statement I use the phrase “we will touch” with regards to this topic. This is a big […]
Read MoreProtons 101: Proton Therapy cuts severe side effects for patients by well over 50% – New study results
A new study was just released showing that, across a variety of cancers, proton therapy results in dramatically less severe side effects for patients. Results from the Study Simply stated this study shows that if doctors recommend radiation and chemotherapy together to treat your cancer, you can cut your risk of severe side effects from […]
Read MoreProtons 101: Proton Therapy and SpaceOAR at The Oklahoma Proton Center
Less radiation dose to normal structures is a key component of cancer treatment. Today, we’ll review very briefly 1) what SpaceOAR is, 2) why at the Oklahoma Proton Center we use it for most patients, and 3) why we think it is a great match for proton therapy and prostate cancer treatment. What is SpaceOAR? […]
Read MoreProtons 101: Breast Cancer, Radiation, and Heart Health
DISCLAIMER / About the Blog – Please read once if you haven’t. Protecting the heart during the treatment of breast cancer is a critical component of developing an overall cancer treatment plan for a breast cancer patient. Before we start the more technical side of the discussion, I’d like to remind everyone of the basics […]
Read MoreProtons 101: Prostate Cancer: Summary of Current Data
LAST UPDATED: August 2019 to reflect the new August 3rd Lancet randomized prostate cancer trial. Summary of Current Prostate Cancer Outcome Data for Patients Treated with Radiation: Below is a table summarizing recent trials that have been published on prostate cancer. This table simply attempts to summarize current data comparing external beam radiation (both 3D […]
Read MoreProtons 101: Your first question – Should I have Proton Therapy?
If you get diagnosed with cancer, what are the very first questions to ask of your treatment team? 1. Should I have Proton Therapy? Like many things you see online, the first words and headings are designed to grab attention. This headline is like that in a way because the answer is so unexpected, but […]
Read MoreProtons 101: “My doctor would tell me if proton therapy was a good option, right?”
DISCLAIMER / About the Blog – Please read once if you haven’t. An extra disclaimer: Some of these post are really pretty easy to write and some of these post are pretty difficult. This one is on the more difficult side as it touches upon a lot of things that people and scientists don’t want […]
Read MoreProtons 101 – Where Radiation Dose Goes
DISCLAIMER / About the Blog – Please read once if you haven’t. Today we’ll look at total integral dose delivered to the patient across a variety of cancers treated with radiation. Here is the crazy part of this post: For most treatments, much more radiation dose is delivered in normal healthy tissues than the target. […]
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