Looking for anyone with good proton therapy outcomes- from any treatment center

[KeepSmiling]

Size of lesion:  MRI report indicates: enhancing 15 mm lesion arising within the seventh and eight nerve complex with intracanicular extension consistent with an acoustic neuroma." It also states "The mass measures 7 x 10 mm in the greatest craniocaudad and transverse dimensions respectively".

 If you have had Proton Therapy at ANY treatment center, and  if you are willing to talk-could you kindly send me a personal message, so we could arrange a telephone conversation during which we could ask you some questions? 

Proton Therapy seems advantageous if you google this article: " Should Randomized Clinical Trials Be Required for Proton Radiotherapy?" and you can see how some scholars believe in proton therapy. Here is an excerpt: In brief, the arguments for the use of protons in radiation therapy are as follows. (1) Owing primarily to their depth dose characteristics (for each proton beam, virtually no dose is administered distal to the target volume and substantially less dose is administered than x-rays proximal to the target volume), the dose distributions that can be achieved with protons are in almost all cases superior to those possible with x-rays (with or without intensity modulation, which can be achieved with both modalities). There is generally between two to three times less energy deposited by protons to the uninvolved normal tissues outside the target volume (variously described as integral dose or the dose bath) as compared with the energy that x-rays deposit. (2) There is virtually no difference in tissue response per unit dose between protons of therapeutic energies as compared with x-rays, so that the only relevant differences are physical. (3) Radiation delivered to normal tissues causes damage to them, just as it does to tumors, and the severity of that damage increases with increasing dose.


Did I overlook an area at the ANA website that offers details about Proton Therapy? If so, I apologize. If not... Please-consider reading  these different websites  (Hope this helps!:

http://www.thegreenjournal.com/article/S0167-8140%2808%2900616-6/abstract

http://www.proton-therapy.org/acoustic_neuroma.html

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Radiation_Oncology/CNS/Acoustic_neuroma#Proton_Therapy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12943574?dopt=Abstract

http://www.thegreenjournal.com/article/S0167-8140%2808%2900616-6/abstract

http://www.protons.com/protons/videos/index.page?

http://www.floridaproton.org/about-us/physicians-staff 

http://www.ananj.org/Acoustic_Neuroma_Treatment_Options.shtm

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/06/14/proton-therapy-radiation-without-side-effects/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12943574

http://www.avmsurvivors.org/forum/topics/photons-vs-protons-whats-the

http://www.protons.com/protons/videos/index.page?

http://www.ucsfcme.com/2009/slides/MUR09001/Saturday%20PDFs/10GottschalkCyberknifeVsProtonBeam,WhichHasTheGreatestPotent.pdf

http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/200_299/0270.html

We are very grateful to all forum members for all your help and caring. It has been very informative to speak with people about their treatments. We are grateful.

[MDemisay]

Dear Keepsmiling,

I do not have any info regarding Proton therapy but have considered contacting skipg? He recently underwent treatment for Proton therapy.

You are not alone, please consider that you are among a group of fellow travelers and well wishers here. Please use us often, we can help, all you need do is ask!

Mike

[KeepSmiling]

Thanks for the tip. I sent him a PM. Thanks!

[dtorres135]

what were the advantages you found?

[PaulW]

It appears that they still have some work to do.
Range Uncertainty seems to be a big barrier.
While protons do no damage on exit, they dont know exactly where the protons are going to stop and release their energy
At the moment thats about 3mm of uncertainty. This means increasing the amount of tissue to radiate to ensure the tumour gets enough.

From what I can gather and I maybe wrong
The smallest nozzle size is 12mm, so treating small tumours will damage more tissue than necessary, This is probably why University of Florida would have said that the tumour is too small.

For small AN's Gamma Knife and Cyberknife will typically use a 5mm diameter beam

Worth the read.
http://medicalphysicsweb.org/cws/article/research/50584