Fewer Side Effects, Better Quality of Life
Brain tumors are surrounded by delicate and vitally important normal tissues. Treating these tumors with conventional radiation therapy poses risks of neurological deficits, hormonal deficiencies and intellectual impairment.
Because proton therapy is so precise, brain tumors can be carefully targeted with higher doses of radiation, and they pose less risk of long-term injury to surrounding tissues. There are also fewer immediate side-effects to the brain, helping you maintain a better quality of life and cognitive function during treatment.
Brain Cancers We Treat Include
- Glioblastoma multiforme and high grade gliomas
- Low grade gliomas
- Meningiomas
- Pituitary and pineal tumors
- Craniopharyngiomas
- Tumors of the base of skull / chordomas
- Recurrent brain tumors
Living a Full Teen Life After a Brain Tumor
Kailey, a teen equestrian, was diagnosed with medulloblastoma in 2022 and treated with surgery and proton therapy. Due to proton therapy’s pinpoint precision, Kailey’s treatment team could safely target the tumor with less damage to nearby healthy tissues and with fewer side effects.
Pencil Beam Scanning at the New York Proton Center
Patients at our center receive pencil beam scanning, a highly sophisticated and the most modern form of proton therapy. It uses an extremely narrow beam of protons to “paint” the intended radiation dose onto the tumor. The technology can target specific parts of the tumor with different radiation dose levels, while better protecting the surrounding normal tissues from irradiation.
Not All Proton Therapy Is Created Equal
Many other proton centers use “volumetric” beams that deliver a fixed quantity of energy to the entire tumor. But the pencil beam scanning technology at the New York Proton Center delivers “intensity-modulated proton therapy,” or IMPT.
Widely considered the most advanced form of proton therapy, IMPT can target different parts of the tumor with different radiation dose levels based on the prescription and the tumor’s exact location, while better protecting the surrounding normal tissues from irradiation. That’s particularly valuable when treating the most complicated tumors, those residing in the fissures of the head, neck and skull base.
