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← Return to PC treatment: Prostatectomy or Proton Beam Therapy
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PC treatment: Prostatectomy or Proton Beam Therapy
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Jan 22 11:40am | Replies (47)Comment receiving replies
@northoftheborder
Not sure you heard my comments about the cost of proton sites going down dramatically.
It used to be they had to build a building to house the proton machine. They now can put it in one or two rooms in an existing building. This is expected to make the cost of putting in proton equal to the cost of putting in photon. This will result in proton radiation being much more frequently used.
From Dr. Rossi in San Diego
Protons deposit most of their energy at the end of their path, a phenomenon called the Bragg peak, before stopping completely. This allows radiation oncologists to deliver a high dose of radiation directly to the tumor and then have the radiation cease, avoiding unnecessary exposure to healthy tissues.
Proton beams can be precisely shaped to conform to the exact contours of the prostate tumor, which is crucial for accurate cancer control and protecting nearby organs.
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@jeffmarc Thanks. That's good news that the cost is coming down.
You mention the technical capability:
"Proton beams can be precisely shaped to conform to the exact contours of the prostate tumor, which is crucial for accurate cancer control and protecting nearby organs."
The challenge now is to find evidence that the improved technical capability actually leads to significantly-improved 5–10 year patient outcomes. That's still the missing piece of the research puzzle. If they do eventually find that evidence, and the cost of proton-beam facilities comes down close to that of photon-beam, then we can expect to see much wider availability in the future.
But right now, those are still "if"s (last I've seen). So the "(more) accurate cancer control" remains an informed hypothesis.