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WEEKLY WEB REVIEW – WEEK 19

170512 - Weekly Web Review - Week 19
Check out the latest news about proton therapy: this week, find out how this state-of-the-art treatment modality is raising awareness and generosity, and offering a better quality of life during and after treatment. MEET CLARE, BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR Clare Parker is a 66-year-old woman with no family history of breast cancer. In July 2016, she visited her doctor to complete her annual mammogram, but this time the visit wasn’t so typical: she had stage 1 ductile carcinoma.  Clare was startled and scared to hear the diagnosis. After performing a lumpectomy, her oncologist recommended specialist proton therapy at the MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center, to prevent unnecessary radiation to her heart, lungs and surrounding organs, resulting in fewer side effects. Receiving... Full article

WEB REVIEW – Proton Therapy : safest radiation treatment for pediatric tumors

If your child was diagnosed with cancer, you would want to find the best, smartest and most pain-free treatment available. For a growing number of pediatric patients and their parents, it is clear that proton beam radiation may be the most desirable course of action to pursue. But sadly, that too many patients and their doctors remain unfamiliar with proton therapy and its documented benefits. This unawareness is partly due to the fact that there are only 12 proton therapy centers in the US. Combined, these centers treat approximately 10,000 patients a year, or less than 1% of all... Full article

Proton Therapy giving hope to patients affected by rare cancers

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Complex cases coupled with limited treatment options have historically translated into a bleak prognosis for many patients diagnosed with a rare cancer. Now, however, novel therapies developed in recent years at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are enabling clinicians to successfully treat a range of uncommon tumors offering increasing numbers of patients new hope. Proton therapy is one such tool advanced... Full article

WEB REVIEW – Proton therapy for lung cancer

Proton therapy lung cancer awareness month
Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the U.S. This disease has just a 15% survival rate and causes more deaths worlwide than the next three most common cancers combined (colon, breast and prostate) : 1.3 million deaths every year. About $10.3 billion is spent annually in the U.S. on lung cancer treatment alone. Physicians at The University of Texas MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center are leaders in the research... Full article

WEB REVIEW – Proton Therapy for lung cancer: decreased risk of secondary malignancies

Lung Cancer awareness month proton therapy
In the treatment of cancer, it is challenging to deliver an adequate dose of radiation to the tumor while sparing nearby normal tissues. Proton therapy’s advantage for many lung cancer patients is based on this feature. By minimizing the exposure of normal tissues, proton therapy allows to spare critical nearby structures such as the esophagus, heart and spinal cord, and shows tremendous advantages when compared with... Full article

WEB REVIEW – What is breast cancer ?

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Breast cancer is a kind of cancer originating from breast cells. It usually starts off in the inner lining of milk ducts (ductal carcinoma) or the lobules that supply them with milk (lobular carcinoma). As a malignant type of tumor, breast cancer is able to invade other parts of the body. Incidence: Breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in females worldwide. It accounts for 16% of all female cancers and... Full article

From the editors – October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

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Dear Readers, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer still touches too many of our moms, sisters and daughters. Proton Therapy Today is willing to help, to support the huge effort that is being made by thousands of people worldwide and to help them raise awareness about this disease. Over the next ten days, we will publish a series of articles and reviews about breast cancer and how proton therapy can... Full article

From our readers – Be Positive like the Protons

I am a 30 year survivor of a clival chordoma.  I was first diagnosed in September of 1983.  We found Mass General / Harvard Cyclotron by luck. In 1983 nobody had any idea what a chordoma was let alone any medical protocols.  October 17, 1983 I had a transphenodial biopsy done at Mass General and then on October 31, 1983 I started my 7000 rads of experimental proton bean radiation therapy at the Harvard Cyclotron in Cambridge. Over the 30 years I have terrible headaches every day, double vision, tinnitus and lately pituitary failure {hypopituitary}.  I have also worked every... Full article

Proton therapy, education can help remedy racial disparities in prostate cancer care

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African American men diagnosed with very low-risk prostate cancers are much more likely than white men to actually have aggressive disease that goes undetected with current diagnostic methods, a John Hopkins study recently suggested. According to the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer occurs more often in African American men than in men of other races. African American men are also more likely to be diagnosed at... Full article

PSA testing is an important early-detection tool for prostate cancer

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In 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) advised the elimination of a routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening test for prostate cancer in healthy men. Champions for early detection of the disease were not pleased.   “They are doing the male population in this country a huge disservice,” said Robert Marckini, author of the book, “You Can Beat Prostate Cancer” and founder of... Full article

Web Review – Proton therapy for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the trickiest forms of cancer because it is very difficult to find and treat. However, state-of-the-art proton therapy raises hope and might change the outcomes of this disease, despite the challenges and difficulties it involves for researchers and clinicians. There are currently no specific tools to detect pancreatic cancer in its early stages. Its symptoms often  mimic those of other sicknesses. That’s why pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rate of all major forms of cancer. 94% percent of patients that are diagnosed die within 5 years. Life... Full article
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