Although every diagnosis is both scary and unique, there are many who find at least some comfort in the fact that advanced cancer treatment options continue to improve and expand. From the latest proton therapy for prostate cancer
and breast cancer to pencil beam proton therapy, in fact, there are often times when a doctor, or team of doctors, can offer more than one option to patients. As the success of proton cancer treatment therapy continues to grow, however, there are many times when this is the plan that families, along with their doctors select.
If you find yourself discussing cancer treatment therapy options with a doctor, of course, it is often in your best interest to follow the regimen that your physician suggests. Many patients, however, want to consult with another doctor and get a second opinion before they make the final decision.
Are There Things You Could be Doing to Decrease the Chance of You Getting Cancer?
Study after study continues to show that while cancer can afflict anyone, there are some things that serve as a precursor. For instance, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 34.5% of men who are 20 years and older are obese and 32.6% of this same population has high blood pressure or is taking prescriptions for hypertension. Being overweight may not always increase your chance of cancer, but the obesity combined with high blood pressure can make treating the cancer more difficult.
Unfortunately, as many as 23,800 adults and 4,830 children are diagnosed with cancerous tumors of the brain and spinal cord every year, with brain tumors making up the majority of that number. And research continues to indicate that glioblastomas account for about 15% of all primary brain tumors. In some cases, proton therapy is an effective treatment option for this kind of cancer.
Due to proton cancer treatment therapy treatment’s targeted approach, studies have found that it is also effective for prostate cancer patients. In fact, of those patients treated using this method have a significantly reduced risk of impotence. for instance, 94% of men report that they remain sexually active after treatment. A proton treatment session generally takes 15 to 45 minutes, however the actual time spent delivering the protons to the tumor is generally only about a minute or two. Cancer diagnosis is always scary, but it is important to realize that there are many options that are now available to patients that simply did not exist a few decades ago.