Child-Sizing Radiation Doses From Medical Scans - ABC News

Child-Sizing Radiation Doses From Medical Scans - ABC News

National Association for Proton Therapy Spotlights Pediatrics

National Association for Proton Therapy Spotlights Pediatrics

New Year - New Proton Centers

It was announced this week that Oklahoma City Proton has begun to treat pediatric cancer patients! This is great and offers families in the midwest an attractive alternative. This center has some unique features with pediatric couches that are used. In speaking with a pediatric radiation oncologist this week there, I was informed the paraspinal pediatric patients have now been successfully treated in the prone position where the body is treated lying face down. It is opposed to the supine position which is face up. The good news is that the prone position provides better airways for the anethesia doctors during sedation with younger children.

Numbers are staring to get updated from the various proton centers around the world.
See:

http://ptcog.web.psi.ch/ptcentres.html

As of right now in the U.S. we have the following reported:

Loma Linda founded 1990 treated 13,500 as of 12/08
Florida PTI founded 2006 treated 1,847 as of 12/09
MRPI founded 2004 treated 632 as of 12/08
MGH Boston founded 2001 treated 3,515 as of 10/08
MDA Houston founded 2006 treated 1,700 as of 12/09

I keep hoping these centers will report pediatric cases treated. Right now it seems to be everyone's best kept secret.

There will be lots happening in the proton world this year, we have Hampton coming up by August 2010. Philadelphia is getting itself off the ground. ProCure has several irons in the fire with new proton centers. It looks like Chicago will be there next center opening at the first of next year. Stay tuned!

Protons and Children: September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

I was talking to a friend of mine and we were discussing how many children have actually received proton treatment as part of their protocol in the United States. I suggested to her that there were around 1,000 pediatric patients treated here. She said last year? I said no, I mean since it started in 1990!!! You have many, many of the experts saying it is undisputable that protons should be used versus photons with children because of secondary tumors, and because of the deficit effects of radiation on healthy tissues in children. Yet how can it be there have only been 1,000 kids treated in the last twenty years??? This is why I started the Pediatric Proton Foundation.

Here is how I come to my estimate:

It seems it is agreed Boston, by far, treats the most pediatric patients. They published they had treated 320 pediatric cancer patients from a total of 3,515 or 9.1% of patients. Let's assume then the other centers treat approximately half that or 4.5%.

Boston = 320 peds self reported
LL 13,500 = 607 peds
Florida 998 = 44 peds
Indiana 632 = 28 peds
MDA 1000= 45 peds

That equals a grand total of 1044 peds. This has to change. I am going to try to help make it change with your help.

September is childhood cancer awareness month. The following video is a tribute to our young warriors.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month - Time to Demand Protons!

September is childhood cancer awareness month and I found this video that captures the emotion of being a Mom with a cancer child.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEg1a8plJq4

Procure's Oklahoma City Proton Center Open for Business

I attended the grand opening of the Oklahoma City Proton Center on July 8th! Dr. John Cameron had a vision of treating patients needing proton in centers outside of academia settings, and his dream came true this day. Procure's first center is most impressive. There are 2 more in some stage of development with Procure including Chicago and Boca Raton.

I noted subtle upgrades throughout the tour starting with a concierge that is postioned in the center to help patients and their families make all their arrangements from lodging to fun. I have visited 3 other centers so I have some frame of reference. It's great seeing everything brand spanking new. Incorporated throughout the center are the latest in positioning robotics, and a slew of very keen upgrades such as an enclosed floor in the rotating gantry room. They also plan to install a pediatric couch in the gantry so children can be positioned more comfortably for their treatment. I also spoke to a physicists that is developing a new application for anesthesia for children that will speed the treatment process up considerably making them the same if not faster than an adult patient to be treated.

What I believe will make OKC work is the new Integris comprehensive center being built a stone through away from the proton center. Patients will be able to walk to the cancer center for routine blood counts, tests, and any other treatment (ex. chemotherapy) that goes along with proton treatment. This in itself may make it more "convenient" that some other center's setups which usually include a ride to get to the nearest cancer center. The fact it will be designated a "comprehensive" cancer care center by the NIH, will make it one of the 25 or so designated centers in the country.

Cheers to Procure, IBA and Integris for what appeared to me to be a job well done!

Proton for Pediatric Cancer Tumors - Pass it on!

It’s remarkable that so few people know about protons. I frequently bring up this subject when I am talking about my son’s recovery from ewing’s sarcoma cancer and most people say, “what is proton?” I start with an easy, “a targeted form of radiation, more bullet-like and precise than traditional radiation.” I go on to explain my son was only 2 when he was diagnosed and had a lot of growing parts that we didn’t particularly want touched with radiation like his heart and his lungs. Most people get that. Targeted sounds good, but why radiation at all?

Most people don’t understand that over half of people diagnosed with cancer will be prescribed radiation as part of their protocol to get better and that includes children. Chemotherapy is not a targeted or precise method in destroying cancer, in that you have to destroy many good cells when going after the bad cancer cells. This is the reason fast growing healthy cells such as hair, and mouth cells die along with the bad. Same holds true with radiation, in that a beam is directed at the cancer tumor site and the radiation hopefully destroys the cancerous cells and the cells surrounding the tumor bed. We want to destroy the bad cells without destroying the good and healthy ones beyond the cancerous tumor bed. Proton accomplished this because of the Bragg peak. The Bragg peak describes how the energy enters the body and deposits the radiation in the tumor target but not much beyond. It really is that simple. Proton works better because of the Bragg peak.

Proton gets given to pediatric cases because family and friends educate themselves and pass it onto loved ones, friends, and those fighting the beast that is taking our children with it. PROTON FOR PEDIATRIC CANCER - PASS IT ON!

Let the Blogging about Proton Begin!

My goal is to update this blog at least once a week. Not that I think I have some “in” to pediatric proton, but like everything else, when you focus you notice. One of the things that jumps out to me, is that proton versus photon in terms of killing cancer is running just about equal in studies published to date. The issue, not discussed often, is the after effects. Radiation at certain levels kills cells. This is the desired outcome: cell death. But when healthy cells surround cancer cells, you have to ask where does the radiation path start and stop? Please take notice of these differences. I spoke recently to a top physicist in regards to proton radiation, and he said, “This type of treatment should be standard of care for all cases of radiation to people in their mid-40’s….why destroy healthy tissue unnecessarily?” I got it. But why is it that this is such an uphill battle? Lack of published studies is one good reason and the cost another. But I digress.

I read a blog recently about the swine flu and the enormous outreach for this problem. Comparing it to children’s cancer, we, the parents of a child cancer patient, can’t understand why there isn’t the same outrage for children’s cancer. It is horrific to watch a child go through cancer treatment. I can honestly say in my life I have never used the word "horrific" until my baby got cancer.

I wanted to end this post by pointing out all the new centers that are coming up over the next 3 years. We go from 5 proton centers now to 11 centers by 2012 see: http://www.pediatricprotonfoundation.org/proton_treatment/u.s._proton_centers/
Lots of people obviously believe in it, and are willing to put their money where their mouth is. Thank you! And now I will follow and post about the dedication each will have to pediatrics. I know Philadelphia is making a dedicated room just for pediatrics, and Oklahoma is pushing to start pediatrics as soon as January 2010! Wahoo!

Stay tuned! Check us out @ www.pediatricprotonfoundation.org. We have loaded some new success stories of children that made it to proton. Check them out at http://www.pediatricprotonfoundation.org/proton_treatment/children_success_stories/

Thanks for following us!

Pediatric Proton Foundation Officially Launches!

Yes, we are a few months later than we planned, but we are here. I am posting a copy of our first press release here.

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. In 2007, Susan and Jim Ralston received the news every parent dreads: their 2-year-old son was diagnosed with spinal Ewing's sarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer. This heart-breaking report was followed by a discovery from relatives that offered some comfort and hope: a relatively new radiation treatment, proton beam therapy. The Ralstons began a quest for more information and learned proton therapy could help their son improve his odds of beating cancer.

As a result of this first-hand experience and months of research, the Ralstons are launching the Pediatric Proton Foundation. Their mission in founding the Pediatric Proton Foundation is a simple one: to provide education, advocacy, and assistance to families in need of pediatric proton. Said founder Susan Ralston, “I am proud that we will be able to help other families and their children with cancer gain access to proton treatment across the country.” The first phase of the Foundation’s rollout plan includes a parent-friendly website loaded with everything a parent needs to help determine if proton is an appropriate treatment for their child and then how to quickly get to it. The next phase involves working to raise money to help researchers with pediatric proton studies and also to help families with the huge financial burden that comes with traveling to get proton beam treatment.

There are currently 5 proton centers operating in the United States with 5 others in some stage of development. Hampton University, near Virginia Beach, Virginia is developing a proton center expected to open in August 2010. “Proton beam treatment delivers targeted radiation to the cancerous site and avoids surrounding healthy tissue. This is critically important when treating children with cancer, since they are growing and many tissues are still developing” said Ralston. There are an estimated 13,000 children diagnosed annually in the United States with cancer and half of those cases are some type of bone, soft tissue or organ cancer, which means many of these cases could potentially be treated with proton therapy. “Dealing with cancer is one nightmare, and then dealing with the after effects of the actual cancer treatment is yet another nightmare. Anything we can do to improve cancer survival rates and reduce the after effects from the treatment needs to be pursued. These are America’s children – they deserve the best we have to offer here,” continued Ralston.

In mid-April, the Foundation was a first-time exhibitor at the “Pediatric Neuro-oncology in the Proton Era” meeting that was sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital - the site with the world's greatest cumulative experience with pediatric proton neuro-oncology. The Foundation will be an exhibitor at the 51st Annual ASTRO (American Society for Radiation Oncology) meeting at McCormick Place West in Chicago November 1-5, 2009 with over 12,000 attendees expected from all over the world. “We hope that through our active involvement in the pediatric oncology world, we can bring more attention to this treatment option for children and therefore, more supporters to our cause of helping appropriate pediatric cancer cases access proton therapy,” said Ralston.

About the Foundation:

The Pediatric Proton Foundation is uniquely positioned as an independent, nonprofit charity that relies on voluntary funding from a variety of sources to be able to provide the most objective information available about pediatric cancer treatment at each proton center in the U.S. The dollars given are used to help support our mission of providing education, advocacy and assistance to families in need of pediatric proton. We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. You may be able to deduct some or the entire amount of your donation for tax purposes. Please consult your professional tax advisor.

For more information, visit the Pediatric Proton Foundation’s website at: www.pediatricprotonfoundation.org.