Proton therapy for recurrent cancer

After undergoing radiation treatment, some tumors may unfortunately develop in the same spot as before. Retreating these tumors with conventional photon therapy can expose nearby organs to yet additional radiation, causing significant challenges since the human body can only withstand a certain amount of radiation over a lifetime.

In contrast, proton therapy has the advantage of depositing minimal radiation into nearby organs. So it is an ideal noninvasive treatment option for retreating tumors that have recurred and provides many patients with a new potential chance for cure.

More than 43% of the New York Proton Center’s patients come for management of difficult-to-treat recurrent tumors, far exceeding the national average of 11 percent. Some of the recurrent cancers that patients come to our center to treat include:

• Anal and colorectal cancers
• Brain tumors
• Breast cancer
• Esophageal cancer
• Head and neck cancers
• Gynecologic cancers
• Liver cancers
• Lung and thoracic cancers
• Lymphomas
• Pediatric cancers
• Prostate cancer
• Spine tumors

The clinical staff at the New York Proton Center includes Dr. Charles B. Simone, one of the world’s foremost experts in treating cancer recurrences.

Most 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 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.