Proton therapy is a form of radiation different from conventional radiation particlest that can cause more damage to the healthy issue that to cure the damaged one. The advantage of proton therapy is that it uses precisely guided protons. This therapy has proved to be effective for treating many types of cancers such as pediatric, lung, brain, head and prostate cancer. This therapy is used when tumors have not spread to other parts of the body.

The proton therapy centers are not so wide spread since this was practiced only in research facilities. Not all doctors may be familiar with the benefits of proton therapy. This therapy allows pacients to continue their daily activities during the sessions that takes six to eight weeks since is a non invasive therapy. Trough imaging techniques radiation oncologists determin the exact location of the tumor that has to be treated.

Treatment centers provide Proton treatment in United States are as follow: M D Anderson Proton Therapy Center; Florida Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville, Florida; Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute in Bloomington, IN; Loma Linda, CA; the Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center in Boston; Roberts Cancer Center at University of Pennsylvania who will operate in Philadelphia; in Oklahoma City there is  Procure Proton Therapy. Before you would go to a therapy center contact the financial counselors of that center to find out the coverage of your health insurance, usually these cover proton therapy. These prior discussion is good to reduce any financial uncertainties.

Prior to starting your treatment with proton therapy consult your physician to review all the details regarding side effect. It si known that proton therapy is less damaging than other form of radiation therapy mainly because proton therapy will deliver radiation dose only to the treatment site and cand do less damage to healthy tissue located around that tumor. The treatment with proton therapy last eight weeks with 5 days a week sessions.

In the world there were 26 proton therapy centers at the end of 2008 in Germany, Italy, Korea, Canada, England, Russia, China, South Africa, China, Sweden, France, Usa, Germany that have treated more than 60000 patients. The equipment are cost prohibitive to be wide spread. Cyclotron and syncrotron are very expensive equipments. Teams of engineers are working to develop small synchrotron and cyclotron systems at an affordable price for more hospitals so that proton therapy can cure more patients.

The side effects from proton therapy treatment are less frequent than the one from standard x-ray radiation. Because of the fact that less healthy tissue is exposed during this treatment patientss do not feel discomfort or any pain during treatment. Anyway there are some side effects that can occur on the area where proton beam enters the body to the tumor such as temporary hair loss, fatigue. Your doctor can give you all the details regarding other side effects related to the area that is treated.

Although proton therapy and x-ray therapy are similar because they use radiation, they are different in the form they deliver this radiation for treating tumor. Proton beams are more controled an cand deposit the radiation directly on the tumor with a reduced risk of damaging the surrounding health tissue. The x-ray is harder to be controlled thus increasing the risk of damaging the healthy tissue during treatment.