Stem cell replacement therapy starts today. As you have been following your friend on social media it has been encouraging to see her strength, but difficult to see her struggle. When you read the post that indicated she was getting ready for the stem cell replacement therapy you thought of her throughout the day.
From stem cell replacement options to proton therapy for brain cancer, the medical world of cancer treatment can be both complicated and complex. Finding a doctor who can help you understand the available treatment options and a team who can help you make the best choices is both reassuring and comforting.
One of the treatment options that many cancer patients are using in today’s battle against cancer are proton treatments. Sometimes combined with radiation treatment for cancer, proton cancer treatment can be very effective.
Consider some of these statistics about the current state of cancer treatment in America:

• Proton therapy decreases the radiation dose to gastrointestinal structures by at least 59% compared to X-rays.
• Proton therapy is a type of radiation that is capable of stopping at a very specific point in the targeted tissue, unlike conventional radiation which continues beyond the tumor. In proton therapy for brain cancer, this means that no radiation will reach the eyes and other parts of the brain.
• A proton therapy treatment session generally takes 15 to 45 minutes. The actual time spent delivering the protons to the tumor, however, is generally only a minute or two.
• 31,000 people have received proton therapy in America and more than 64,000 people have been treated with this therapy worldwide.
• 60% less radiation generally can be delivered to the normal tissues around a tumor. This lowers the risk of radiation damage to the other healthy tissues.
• More than 30 particle therapy centers, with a total of about 80 treatment rooms, were under construction worldwide as of the year 2015.

The diagnosis of cancer is never good, but with the advancement in treatment options more and more people are able to be successfully treated, and sometimes cured. Making sure that you are working with a team of experts who can help you understand all of the available options, like proton beam radiation, means that you will have the best opportunity to find the best chance at remission and survival.