Is proton therapy better than traditional radiation for cancer treatment?
Is proton therapy better than traditional radiation for cancer treatment? Most people who are diagnosed with cancer face a pretty fearsome treatment plan that can include surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation. Some will have to undergo all three. The lucky ones may only have to go through radiation treatment, which requires no cutting and probably won’t have them throwing up every hour or so for a week. But even then, they’re not that lucky. Traditional radiation treatment using X-ray beams has its downsides, especially for children and for people with awkwardly placed tumors. Radiation therapy for cancer is based on the idea of selective cell destruction, and it destroys cells using energy. High-energy particles damage a cell by altering its atoms. Everything in t
