Radiation Dose to the Heart is a Modifiable Cardiac Risk Factor in Cancer Treatment
As we head into November, which is Lung Cancer Awareness month, I wanted to give a general overview of data from this year showing the important link between Major Cardiac Events and Radiation Dose to the heart. To me, I think it is amazing that there are this many studies from this year. This isn’t […]
Read MoreProtons 101: Comparative Effectiveness of Proton Chemoradiotherapy to Photon Chemoradiotherapy
DISCLAIMER / About the Blog – Please read once if you haven’t. Below is a more technical post on what I think is one of the most powerful studies to come out this year. This study was presented at ASCO this summer and showed that by treating patients with protons rather than with traditional x-rays, […]
Read MoreProtons 101: What is radiation therapy?
DISCLAIMER / About the Blog – Please read once if you haven’t. The Three Primary Treatment Options for Cancer Patients The 3 main oncology (cancer) physician specialties are: Surgical Oncology: removes the cancer or the majority of it with an operation Radiation Oncology: destroys the cancer cells with radiation damage Medical Oncology: chemotherapy or whole […]
Read MoreProtons 101: Is Proton Therapy the best radiation option for me?
DISCLAIMER / About the Blog – Please read once if you haven’t. Today we will touch on really one the first questions that a cancer patient might have – are protons right for me? Notice that in that statement I use the phrase “we will touch” with regards to this topic. This is a big […]
Read MoreProtons 101: Proton Therapy cuts severe side effects for patients by well over 50% – New study results
A new study was just released showing that, across a variety of cancers, proton therapy results in dramatically less severe side effects for patients. Results from the Study Simply stated this study shows that if doctors recommend radiation and chemotherapy together to treat your cancer, you can cut your risk of severe side effects from […]
Read MoreProtons 101: Your first question – Should I have Proton Therapy?
If you get diagnosed with cancer, what are the very first questions to ask of your treatment team? 1. Should I have Proton Therapy? Like many things you see online, the first words and headings are designed to grab attention. This headline is like that in a way because the answer is so unexpected, but […]
Read MoreProtons 101: “My doctor would tell me if proton therapy was a good option, right?”
DISCLAIMER / About the Blog – Please read once if you haven’t. An extra disclaimer: Some of these post are really pretty easy to write and some of these post are pretty difficult. This one is on the more difficult side as it touches upon a lot of things that people and scientists don’t want […]
Read MoreProtons 101 – Where Radiation Dose Goes
DISCLAIMER / About the Blog – Please read once if you haven’t. Today we’ll look at total integral dose delivered to the patient across a variety of cancers treated with radiation. Here is the crazy part of this post: For most treatments, much more radiation dose is delivered in normal healthy tissues than the target. […]
Read MoreProtons 101: What is Proton Therapy?
On a basic level, this is always the first question I get when asked why I moved to Oklahoma – What is Proton Therapy? So today, I’ll try to give a balanced look at why they are better and why, even with that statement, why they aren’t for every case: Breakdown of Proton Therapy In […]
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