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Proton therapy is a precise form of radiation treatment that targets your tumor without delivering harmful excess radiation to the surrounding tissue. This allows your physician to treat the cancer while helping protect the heart and lungs because protecting these vital organs is practically as important as treating your tumor.
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Standard X-ray radiation therapy for breast cancer has helped save lives for decades. But it can also send a dose of radiation to nearby healthy tissue. This can lead to side effects, like coronary artery disease, lung scarring, secondary cancers (cancers that are caused by treatment) and higher risk of major heart events later in life. On top of this, some chemotherapy can be toxic to the heart, raising risks even more.
Until recently, patients and physicians accepted these side effects as a trade-off for treating the cancer. But with proton radiation therapy, we can reduce the risks. Proton therapy sends radiation to your tumor very accurately. The goal is for less radiation to reach your healthy tissue nearby.
Advantages of Proton Therapy in Locally Advanced Stage III Breast Cancer
Proton therapy has unique features that reduce radiation exposure for normal, healthy organs. This is especially important in left-sided breast cancer because the cancer is close to critical organs, like the heart and lungs. Patients with left-sided breast cancer are more likely to develop cardiovascular diseases after getting radiation treatment than patients with right-sided breast cancer.
Our radiation oncologists will look at each case, but protons are often useful in treating:
- Node-positive breast cancer
- Triple-negative breast cancer
- Lobular carcinoma
- Early-stage breast cancer
- Locally advanced breast cancer (stage II and III)
- Recurrent breast cancer
- Certain patients who have had radiation in the past
Why Choose Fred Hutch for Proton Therapy for Breast Cancer
Few cancer centers worldwide offer this state-of-the-art treatment. Fred Hutch Cancer Center – Proton Therapy, led by world-class experts, is the only proton therapy center in the Pacific Northwest. Our proton therapy providers have extensive experience in radiation oncology. As we put together your treatment plan, we’ll carefully consider whether proton therapy is the best option for you.
Pencil-Beam Scanning
Our radiation oncologists use pencil-beam scanning (PBS) to treat patients with proton therapy. PBS “paints” the tumor with a lot of very thin, very exact beams of protons. The beams are accurate down to millimeters. PBS sends very fast pulses of protons to each planned spot within the tumor until the entire cancer is treated. This method can lower the amount of radiation to healthy tissue even more.
Proton Therapy Facts
- Many people with breast cancer are good candidates for proton therapy. You may be able to have proton therapy even if you need radiation to lymph nodes, if you already have a heart or lung condition or if you need treatment near your heart and lungs.
- Radiation to the heart raises the risk of heart problems later in life by 7.4% per gray (a unit of radiation). Compared to X-ray radiation, proton therapy lowers the amount of radiation that reaches your heart and other tissue and organs nearby.
- Treatments are safe, noninvasive (no cuts to your skin are needed) and painless for most patients, helping you recover faster and keep living your life.
- Proton therapy may be an option for you even if you’ve already had radiation for cancer. In fact, it may be your only option for getting more radiation treatment.
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved proton therapy for clinical use in 1988. More than 200,000 people worldwide have had this form of treatment.
