Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation that destroys cancer cells by preventing them from dividing and growing. Proton therapy uses protons—positively charged atomic particles—instead of the photons used in standard X-ray radiation therapy. With proton therapy, doctors can precisely target the tumor while minimizing damage to the surrounding, healthy tissue. Unlike standard X-ray radiation, protons deposit much of their radiation directly in the tumor and then stop.

Usually, treatments are given five days a week for up to eight weeks, depending on the stage of your prostate cancer and other health factors. Shorter courses of treatment, ranging from one week to five weeks, are available for select groups of patients. In most cases, you can go about your normal routine before and after your session.

Yes. Proton therapy can be used with many other kinds of cancer treatment, including hormone therapy, brachytherapy, and/or as a follow-up to surgery.

Most patients do not feel pain or discomfort during treatment. The majority of the time patients spend in the treatment room involves setting up for treatment.

Your radiation therapists will have everything ready for you before the treatment begins. You will be moved into position before each treatment using an FDA-approved robotic positioning system. You will be asked to lie still on a treatment bed while your therapists make adjustments. After you are in position, the proton beam is delivered and is on for about one minute. You will not feel or see the proton beam. You may hear some clicking from the equipment around you, but generally, after a few treatment sessions, the sounds go unnoticed. During the actual treatment, your therapists will leave the room and monitor your treatment from a control room just outside the treatment room. Although they are not in the same room as you, they can see and hear you through a video monitor. They remain close by and you can easily talk to them if you need anything.

There is no need to stay overnight in a hospital or remain at the center after your treatment. In most cases, you can go about your normal routine before and after your session.

Unlike conventional radiation treatments in which the beam penetrates all the way through the target tumor into the normal tissues behind the cancer, proton beams deliver their dose to the tumor without any dose reaching the deeper tissues. Pencil beam scanning couples this unique property of the proton beam with an electronically guided scanning system that delicately and precisely moves a beam of pencil point sharpness back and forth across each layer of the tumor’s thickness. This “paints” the tumor with radiation in three dimensions and eliminates dose to the normal tissues on the other side of the cancer. The ultra-precision of pencil beam scanning makes it an ideal treatment for prostate cancer as the radiation dose to the rectum and bladder is minimized. Learn more.

SpaceOAR^® Hydrogel is a temporary injectable gel that protects the rectum in men undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer, decreasing the likelihood of side effects. The SpaceOAR System reduces rectal injury by acting as a spacer – pushing the rectum away from the prostate and out of the high dose radiation region.

The hydrogel spacer is injected during a minimally invasive procedure and once in place, patients typically can’t feel it. The hydrogel is safe and similar to other products used in brain surgery, cardiology and ophthalmology. It remains in place for three months during radiation treatment and is then absorbed and leaves the body in the patient’s urine — leaving nothing behind. 

The SpaceOAR System has been clinically proven and studied in a US Clinical Trial and is FDA cleared for sale in the US. The physicians at ProCure were some of the pioneering doctors to validate the benefits of hydrogel.

Proton therapy is covered by Medicare and many private insurance providers. Each ProCure Center has a financial counselor who is dedicated to guiding you through the insurance process. Please contact us if you have questions about coverage.

Proton therapy and X-ray radiation therapy both treat prostate cancer by killing cancer cells when they attempt to divide and multiply. However, there is an important difference. Because X-ray radiation releases its maximum dose of radiation quickly after penetrating the skin and continues to release radiation as it passes through your body beyond the tumor, it exposes more tissue to unwanted radiation, potentially causing more damage to healthy tissue and organs than proton therapy. Proton therapy delivers much of the radiation exactly at the tumor site and then stops. There is essentially no radiation exposure beyond the tumor site once the radiation has reached and covered the treatment area. This allows proton radiation to target the tumor while reducing damage to surrounding healthy tissue.³

For prostate cancer, this means less radiation is delivered to the bladder and rectum. In a study conducted at the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute, proton therapy delivered on average 35 percent less radiation to the bladder and 59 percent less radiation to the rectum compared with standard radiation therapy.⁴

Yes. According to a study from the University of Florida Health Proton Therapy Institute, 99 percent of men with early and intermediate prostate cancer and 76 percent of men with advanced prostate cancer are cancer-free five years after proton therapy.⁶ These results compare favorably to outcomes achieved with surgery or other types of radiation.

In a Massachusetts General Hospital Phase III study of 393 patients with early, intermediate, and advanced stages of prostate cancer (all risk groups), 91.3 percent of patients were cancer-free at five years when treated with high doses of proton therapy.^6,7

Proton therapy offers high cancer control rates.⁷ In one study, 91.3 percent of men in all risk groups were cancer-free (no rise in prostate-specific antigen (PSA)) at five years post-treatment.⁶ High cancer-free rates were also maintained for patients in the low-risk group in follow-up at 10 years. For example, 92.9 percent of men in the low-risk disease group were cancer-free 10 years after receiving proton therapy treatment.⁷

Proton therapy shares a high cure rate with other cancer treatments, including brachytherapy and IMRT. The difference is that standard X-ray therapies such as IMRT deliver more radiation to normal tissues surrounding the prostate.⁸ With proton therapy, radiation to critical structures, including the rectum and bladder, is dramatically reduced, resulting in low rates of rectal and genitourinary side effects.^6,10,11,12 A national trial led by investigators at the Harvard Cancer Center is ongoing to determine if the reduction in exposure to the healthy tissues can improve the long-term quality of life for patients after proton therapy treatment. Studies have shown reduced risks of radiation-induced cancers with protons.

Most patients do not experience side effects during proton therapy treatment. If side effects occur, such as mild fatigue and more frequent urination, they are generally minor and manageable. In terms of long-term side effects, because proton therapy is very precise, it is unlikely to cause urinary or bowel problems. Additionally, proton therapy has a low risk of debilitating side effects like incontinence and impotence, which are often associated with treatment options like surgery.

Most men with prostate cancer are good candidates for proton therapy. If you are interested in proton therapy as a treatment option, we can schedule a consultation for you to speak with a radiation oncologist at ProCure. During the consultation, the radiation oncologist will work with you to determine if you are likely to benefit from proton therapy. The radiation oncologists at ProCure use all forms of radiation to treat prostate cancer, so they will provide you with an unbiased treatment recommendation that is best for you.

Trials are currently being conducted for prostate cancer at ProCure, including:

• A study to determine if prostate cancer patients treated with proton therapy as compared to intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) experience improved Quality of Life (QOL).
• A study for men who have been diagnosed with Stage 1 or 2 prostate cancer that compares two types of radiation therapy: intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and proton beam therapy (PBT). It seeks to determine if proton therapy results in fewer side effects on bowel, urinary and erectile function. This study is being led by investigators at the Harvard Cancer Center and is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.
• A registry that will enroll men who are eligible for but decline enrollment and randomization in the above trial. The overall goal of the Registry is to assess the representativeness and generalizability of the randomized clinical trial findings to a broader spectrum of eligible patients.

Please visit Clinical Trials for more information.