The requests for prays on social media seem never ending. Each one a story of struggle. The latest ones for your sister and family, however, are weighing heavy on your heart. Your sister starts chemo treatment tomorrow and T cell therapy on next week. You pray that the doctors have found the right solution to this battle that she is now fighting for a second time. You read of others who are trying non-invasive cancer treatments and pray that they, too, will get the results they need to live a long and healthy life.
One of the latest, and often most effective, kinds of non-invasive cancer treatments is proton radiation. And while it may not work for all patients, it is an option that has been shown to be effective in any number of situations. From proton therapy for breast cancer to proton therapy for head and neck cancer, there are many times when these kinds of advanced cancer treatment options are the solution that families are looking for.
Cancer Treatment Centers Offer a Wide Variety of Treatment Options
Finding the right care during one of the scariest times of your life is important. If having the right treatment plan for a minor injury like a broken bone is important, then imagine the importance of having the right treatment plan for a serious diagnosis like cancer. One option, proton therapy, that is increasingly popular when it is applicable offers many patients hope. A proton treatment session typically lasts 15 to 45 minutes; however, the actual time spent delivering the protons to the tumor is generally only about a minute or two.
In addition to the shortness of the treatment times, proton therapy is also a popular approach because it is a targeted approach that does not have the wide ranging implications of more invasive procedures like chemotherapy and traditional radiation. For instance, proton therapy decreases the radiation dose to gastrointestinal structures by at least 59% compared to X-rays. As the popularity of these proton treatments increase, it should come as no surprise that there are more locations becoming available. At the beginning of 2015, for example, more than 30 particle therapy centers, with a total of about 80 treatment rooms, were under construction worldwide, all of them offering hope to families who are facing difficult and challenging medical situations.