It is a tender tradition.
It is not one that you accomplish every single year, but on the one time every two or three years that you and your sister make a visit to the same office for a mammogram you share some tender moments. When you can arrange is, you both go to the office of the breast cancer doctor where you received the devastating news about your mother. That news was delivered some 20 years ago, and none of the medical staff are the same, but you and your sister know the significance of the place and the process.
You both know that if your mother had been more diligent about her appointments to the office that known for its screening procedures and breast cancer doctors, she might have lived longer. She might have lived to see her two granddaughters born. She might have lived to see her youngest daughter first meet someone special, and then eventually marry. All of those things would have made your mother very happy. She would also have been very happy about the tender tradition that you and your sister now have. She always wanted for you and your sister to get along better, and, quite frankly, it is difficult to not get along when you are sitting in little more than a warmed rope waiting your turn for the exam that might help you both live a healthier and a longer life.
Are You Looking for Treatment Options for Prostate Cancer or for Breast Cancer
The Big C diagnosis is never a fun one to get, but as doctors and researchers continue to make progress in both treatment for breast cancer and for prostate cancer the diagnosis is sometimes more hopeful than you might expect. And while no two cases are exactly alike, an experienced breast cancer doctor may be able to offer you more options and advice. In fact, advanced cancer treatment options are being tested and developed all of the time and it sometimes pays to get several opinions about what might be the best course of action for your exact diagnosis.
Cancer treatment centers around the country are not all the same, and finding the best breast cancer doctor in your area can be to your advantage. In many cases, some of the latest research and successes supports a combination of radiation and proton therapy for prostate cancer, as well as other forms of cancer. Consider some of these statistics about the latest cancer diagnosis numbers and the increasing availability of proton treatment options:
- Proton therapy is a specialized type of radiation that stops at a very specific point in the targeted tissue. Conventional radiation, on the other hand, continues beyond the tumor. In breast cancer, this means on average 50% less radiation to the lung as compared with conventional radiation, and on average no radiation to the heart.
- Proton therapy typically begins four to six weeks following surgery or chemotherapy. In most situations it is given over a period lasting six weeks.
- Researchers report that 99%, of men treated with proton therapy with low-risk prostate cancer have no signs of cancer recurrence after five years of follow-up.
- Researchers report that 94%, of men treated with proton therapy with intermediate-risk prostate cancer have no signs of cancer recurrence after five years of follow-up.
- Researchers report that 74%, of men treated with proton therapy with high-risk prostate cancer have no signs of cancer recurrence after five years of follow-up.
- Proton therapy decreases the radiation dose to gastrointestinal structures by at least 59% compared when that radiation is compared to X-rays.
- The actual time spent delivering the protons to the tumor is generally only about a minute or two, but the treatment sessions themselves generally take 15 to 45 minutes.
- Proton therapy was first used in 1955 to treat patients in a research setting, but its use was limited because the imaging techniques could not accurately pinpoint tumors. Today, however, more than 67,000 people worldwide have received proton therapy at centers in Europe, Asia and the U.S.
- One of the biggest advantages of proton therapy is that 60% less radiation can be delivered to the normal tissues around the tumor, lowering the risk of radiation damage to healthy tissues.