If you’ve been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, you’re certainly not alone. One study found that one out of seven men will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis throughout their life. While thinking about prostate cancer treatment, you’ll have several possible options. Considering that, it’s wise to think about proton therapy for prostate cancer. Proton therapy centers continue to grow in terms of popularity. If you haven’t heard about proton therapy, it’s wise to learn about the benefits of this procedure. With that in mind, here are four important benefits of using proton therapy as a prostate cancer treatment.

• Highly Effective Type of Treatment
  
  First and foremost, someone dealing with cancer doesn’t want to waste time with ineffective treatments. Therefore, it’s wise to consider treating prostate cancer with proton therapy. Many men have been able to live their lives free from cancer thanks to the help of proton therapy sessions. To prove its effectiveness, a recent followup study was conducted on a group of men who had various stages of prostate cancer. After receiving proton therapy, 99% of low risk patients show no signs of recurring cancer after a five year followup visit. In addition, 94% of medium risk 74% of low risk patients were also cancer free after this same five year period.
• Less Risk of Side Effects
  
  Every cancer patient wants to find a treatment method with as few side effects as possible. Understandably, many men dealing with prostate cancer will wonder how this affects their ability to remain sexually active. Since proton therapy uses a targeted approach to attack cancerous cells, it isn’t known to cause many side effects. In fact, statistics show that 94% who receive proton therapy for prostate cancer are able to remain sexually active after these treatments. Therefore, proton therapy makes it easier to live a normal life after receiving treatment.
• Targeted Radiation
  
  It’s easy to confuse conventional radiation with proton therapy. Proton therapy is a type of radiation treatment. However, proton therapy differs from conventional radiation. Traditional radiation treatment for cancer often spreads past cancerous tissue and into surrounding areas of the body. Fortunately, this isn’t the case with proton therapy. A recent study found that breast cancer patients receiving proton therapy receive, on average, 50% less radiation to the lungs as compared with conventional types of radiation. This type of radiation targets cancerous tissue, meaning less worry about radiation spreading to areas around your prostate.
• Fast Treatment Times
  
  It’s perfectly understandable to look for a cancer treatment that’s non invasive. You don’t want to spend hours, if not days, stuck inside of hospital room. In addition, no one wants to receive treatments that take hours to fully administer. Fortunately, the average proton therapy session takes far less time than other types of cancer treatment. In fact, an average proton therapy session lasts only about 15 to 45 minutes. Don’t worry, it only takes one or two minutes to receive an actual proton therapy treatment. Most of this time will be spent preparing you to receive proton therapy. This makes proton therapy much faster than other types of radiation treatment for cancer.

To summarize, there are many important benefits of proton therapy. Dealing with receiving a prostate cancer diagnosis is a tough time for any male. If you’re wanting a minimally invasive and effective type of radiation treatment for cancer, consider proton therapy. This type of therapy targets cancerous cells, meaning less worrying about radiation spreading throughout your body. In addition, these treatment sessions only last a few minutes which means you can get back to living your life right away.