The plan for Memorial Weekend was to spend some relaxing time at the lake with both family and friends. In the end, however, you found yourself trying to come to terms with the diagnosis of prostrate cancer that your husband received from his doctor. Instead of enjoying a carefree day on the boat, you found yourself at your computer researching the options that your doctor presented, including proton therapy for prostate cancer. It turns out that the success of treating prostate cancer is pretty high, especially if you take advantage of some of the latest, targeted treatment plans, and proton therapy for prostate cancer is both.

Whether you are talking to a breast cancer doctor or are considering head and neck cancer treatments, it is important to make sure that you understand all of the available options. In some cases, proton cancer treatments can provide the best alternative while limiting the effects that patients may experience.

Consider some of these facts and figures about proton therapy treatments and the effectiveness that they can have:

• Proton therapy is a radiation type that stops at a very specific point in the targeted tissue. Conventional radiation, on the other hand, continues beyond the tumor.
• Proton therapy is a targeted approach, and studies have found that prostate cancer patients treated using this method have a significantly reduced risk of impotence.
• In fact, 94% of men report that they remain sexually active after proton therapy treatment.
• In breast cancer, proton therapy means on average no radiation will reach the heart. In addition, on average 50% less radiation will reach the lungs as compared to conventional radiation.
• More than 30 particle therapy centers, with a total of about 80 treatment rooms, were under construction worldwide by the beginning of the year 2015.
• Proton therapy decreases the radiation dose to gastrointestinal structures by as much as 59% when compared to X-rays.

Cancer is never good news, but it is important to make sure that you take advantage of all the opportunities that can help. From meeting with doctors to doing some of your research, it is important and empowering to make sure that you take the time to consider all of the options that might apply to your situation.