Proton Therapy May Significantly Reduce Risk of Developing Secondary Cancers
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
LOMA LINDA, CA – A new study contradicting the belief that proton therapy increases the occurrence of secondary cancers was recently released, reporting on data spanning a 26-year time period. The results of this study were presented in Boston at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology’s (ASTRO) 50th Annual Meeting this September and indicate that proton therapy patients may actually be 50% less likely to develop secondary cancers than photon radiation patients are.
This compelling study found that while 6.4 percent of the study’s patients treated with proton therapy developed secondary cancers, 13.1 percent – or more than twice as many – of its photon radiation patients developed secondary cancers. Well-known for only minimally radiating to bordering structures and healthy tissue, proton therapy’s targeted beam radiation is also known to reduce the occurrence of side effects for treated patients.
Nancy Tarbell, M.D., a radiation oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and the study’s senior author, joined efforts with C.C. Wang, professor of radiation oncology and dean of academic clinical affairs at Harvard Medical School for this study. The retrospective effort compared the effects of the two types of treatment, proton radiation and photo radiation, in relation to secondary cancers. The researchers concluded that photon radiation therapy had a direct association with increased risk for developing secondary cancers.
“It’s one more reason to justify protons,” Tarbell told the publication HemOnc Today. “We didn’t expect it to be this significant.”
Pioneering proton therapy and research, the James M. Slater, M.D. Proton Treatment and Research Center at Loma Linda University Medical Center celebrates findings like these that underscore the importance and benefits of proton therapy. The Center is a widely recognized provider of proton therapy and has largely contributed to advances in the treatment itself.
Tarbell, Wang and the study’s researchers examined the records of 1,450 Harvard Cyclotron proton radiation therapy patients who received cancer treatment between 1974 and 2001 and compared 503 of these patients’ records to those of 1,591 photon therapy patients who were in the National Cancer Institute’s SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results) registry.
The majority of patients involved in the study had brain, head and neck cancers, epithelial tumors, sarcomas and prostrate cancers. The data was adjusted to account for gender and age at treatment.
“In the pediatric cohort, we’re very interested,” Tarbell told HemOnc Today. “If this finding is true in adults, it has to be even more important for young patients where second malignant tumors are such a big issue.”
Tarbell herself noted that while additional studies would strengthen the hypothesis, the results of this study lend a great deal of hope and excitement to specialists and facilities committed to the use of proton treatment in combating cancer. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is also currently sponsoring studies to determine optimal proton dosages for certain cancers, including prostate cancer and types of brain tumors.
About the James M. Slater, M.D. Proton Treatment and Research Center
The James M. Slater, M.D. Proton Treatment and Research Center is the first hospital-based proton therapy facility in the world. Until 2003, it was the only one in the United States. The pioneering nature of this facility is a testament to how medicine is practiced at Loma Linda University Medical Center and is just one of the many services Loma Linda University Medical Center offers.
About Loma Linda University Medical Center
A globally recognized leader in health care, Loma Linda University Medical Center operates some of the largest clinical programs in the United States in areas such as neonatal care and outpatient surgery and is recognized as the international leader in infant heart transplantation and proton treatments for cancer. Each year, the institution admits more than 33,000 inpatients and serves roughly half a million outpatients.