Why Proton Therapy?
The MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center delivers the most advanced form of radiation available, targeting cancer with power and precision while sparing nearby healthy tissues and organs to minimize side effects.
While standard radiation enters the body and delivers radiation to healthy tissues before and after the tumor site, proton therapy releases the peak of its cancer-fighting energy directly into the tumor, reducing the amount of stray radiation.
This targeted treatment spares normal tissues from radiation, a major advantage when treating vital organs such as the brain, heart, esophagus, and lung. As a result, patients may experience fewer side effects and improved quality of life, during and after treatment.
Intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT), which was pioneered at the Proton Therapy Center, is able to deliver radiation with a detailed technique that is just millimeters wide, painting radiation dose on the tumor layer by layer in just a few minutes. IMPT is especially useful in treating irregularly shaped or deep seeded tumors, or those tumors that are adjacent to critical structures in the body.
This image illustrates the differences in radiation types and the effects it has on the body proving that proton therapy targets specific tumor areas versus affecting other parts of the body not affected by the cancer.