If you are at all interested in Proton Therapy and how it is different from other external beam radiation this link is a "must read"
Date and time of this home page is when Judy and I first visited the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute
Purpose of this blog
It is my hope that men will find this blog through search engines and will learn that there is a lesser known alternative for Prostate Cancer Treatment. Although lesser known it is not new, with Loma Linda's Prostate Center CLICK HERE having been approved by the FDA in 1987.
Why aren't there more centers?
There are two issues that limit the development of these centers: size and cost. Each facility has a cyclotron to produce the beam, which weighs 200 tons. From the cyclotron, the beam passes along a beam line, which can be 100 yards long. This beam line reaches all the gantries, where patients are treated. The gantry itself is 3 stories tall, with the patient entering the treatment room on the second floor. The facility at the University of Pennsylvania has 4 gantries, one fixed beam room, and a research room, so you can begin to imagine the scope and size of such a project. Many facilities need to locate the proton center many miles away from the main hospital because of the space that is required. We are fortunate at Penn that we were able to acquire the space to have the facility on campus. Then there is the cost, which can be upwards of a hundred million dollars. This is obviously a limiting factor for facility development. Manufacturers have proposed smaller, single room facilities that will be less expensive and require less space, but these are still in the planning stages.Why this blog
It is my hope to be able to give back to others what some people have given to me in the days following my diagnosis of Prostate Cancer.
