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Medical science has come a long way in treating various types of cancer diseases, and discovered many healing techniques like Gene therapy, Proton Therapy, Radio Surgery therapy using TrueBeam, Immunotherapy and others. Proton therapy is also called as proton particle therapy which has been proved one of the most effective curing methods for treating various types of cancer diseases such as like Brain cancer, Prostate Cancer, Breast Cancer, Liver Cancer and others.

How proton therapy is used?

Proton therapy is a kind of an external beam radiotherapy which uses ionized proton particles to treat the cancer ailments. During the proton particle treatment, particle accelerator (linear accelerator machine) is used to kill the malignant tumor. The charged proton particles damage the DNA of the cancer cells, and thus causing the death of the malignant tissues and cells. The proton beams mainly stop the ability of cells to proliferate. The ionized beams are adjusted with the linear accelerator machine in such a way that it directly attacks on DNA, ultimately stop the cell division of cancerous cells.

Protons have relatively large mass, so these charged particles have lateral side scatter which help to reduce the side effects after the treatment. In addition, the proton particles give an abundant amount of energy during the treatment which helps the doctors to treat cancer disease in a successful way.

Proton therapy hospitals are listed as below:

• The University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute
• South Florida Radiation Oncology
• Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Mayo clinic
• The National Association for Proton Therapy (NAPT)
• National Association for Proton Therapy (NAPT)
• Indiana University Health Proton Therapy Center,
• M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's Proton Center
• Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute
• Shands Hospital at the University of Florida
• Boca Raton Regional Hospital

Benefits of using proton therapy

One of the biggest benefits that doctors get from the  proton therapy is that they get full control over precise delivery of proton particles to the target tumor.  Moreover, it gives fewer side effects after the treatment as the particles don’t harm any healthy tissues.

How proton therapy is different from conventional radiation technique?

In conventional radiation beam therapy, X-ray beams are frequently used to heal the cancerous parts of the body. The radiation beams are applied in forms of X-ray beams which typically go through the malignant tumor, destroying both cancerous cells as well as healthy cells along with the tissues that come to the path of the radiation beams. In proton therapy, the charged proton particles deposit the most of the energy in the tumor and thus kill the cancerous tissues or cells, and thus minimizing damage of any nearby healthy tissues.