Cancer patients often have to suffer from harsh side effects that accompany their treatments. However, a recent study found that a new cancer therapy may be able to reduce these symptoms and allow patients to be more comfortable during treatment. Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine have discovered that proton therapy results in significantly less toxic side effects in cancer patients than older radiation therapies.
Proton therapy is a relatively newer form of cancer treatment. Instead of radiation, which has been used in older treatments, protons are used to treat the cancer. While the treatments are given in the same way, as external beams shot at the tumor, they differ in their effects on the healthy tissues surrounding the tumor. Radiation therapy delivers higher amounts of radiation to the surrounding tissues than proton therapy does. Because of this, doctors using radiation therapy may need to reduce the radiation dose to limit potential side effects. These side effects include skin problems, fatigue, and other effects that depend on the radiation location on the body. Unlike in radiation therapy, dose reduction is not necessary in proton therapy as these side effects are minimized.
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The University of Maryland researchers worked with scientists from the Mayo Clinic and the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Michael Chuong, MD, an assistant professor of radiology at the University of Maryland, compared proton therapy with two types of X-ray radiation. After examining nearly 600 patients with esophageal cancer, the researchers found that a significantly lower number of side effects were found in patients who had undergone proton therapy instead of radiation.
Esophageal cancer patients who undergo radiation treatment suffer from side effects like nausea, fatigue, appetite loss, blood abnormalities, and lung and heart problems. Although proton therapy did not reduce all of these effects, it did significantly impact nausea, blood abnormalities, and loss of appetite.
“This evidence underscores the precision of proton therapy, and how it can really make a difference in cancer patients’ lives,” said Michael Chuong.
This fall, The University of Maryland School of Medicine will be opening the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. The center will provide pencil beam scanning (PBS), a new and highly precise type of proton therapy that is particularly effective in treating tumors located in hard-to-reach areas.
