April 21, 2014 — Proton Therapy Center Czech is located in the capital of the Czech Republic and has successfully entered its second year of operation. Since the beginning, it has made itself available to patients from all over the world has to date has treated patients from 18 different countries — including Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and the Russian federation. The mix of clinical indications corresponds with world trends — half of the patients treated were with prostate cancer. For them proton therapy offers a new revolutionary chance for a smooth recovery and a rapid return to their usual daily lives following treatment.
Thus far, oncology patients have undergone proton therapy with no complications and the detailed examinations given after treatment only confirm that their health improving and they have great perspectives on their future quality of life without undesirable treatment-related side effects — that are often associated with the conventional radiation methods.
Proton Therapy Center Czech in Prague utilizes the most advanced form of proton therapy scanning available today — in the form of what is simply referred to as pencil beam scanning. This remarkable tool enables tumor treatment with millimeter precision, without damaging to surrounding healthy structures. Additionally all diagnostic methods including positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) are available in a single, centralized location. Therefore examinations and planning times are shortened by up to 14 days. It is well established fact that surgery and conventional radiotherapy using photons (X-rays), can cause serious long-term side effects such as erectile dysfunction, loss of fertility, as well as various forms of urinary incontinence, rectal inflammation and bleeding, and intestinal fibrosis. While conventional X-ray radiation unnecessarily exposes up to 50 percent more health tissue to unwanted radiation, protons on the other hand can be precisely focused only upon the tumor without damaging sensitive health organs and tissues around it. Last but not least, the majority of patients are able to maintain their sexual potency.
Ji?í Kubeš, Ph.D., Head of Proton Therapy at Proton Therapy Center Czech said, “Proton radiotherapy offers the highest chance for maintaining sexual potency after treatment. The percentage of those who suffer from incontinence is much smaller than after surgery. A very low dose of radiation decreases the risk of damage to intestines. From our treatment experience thus far, the acute complications regress 14 days following the end of treatment. This means that none of our patients were forced to limit his or her life and work activities during treatment. Patients have not needed to go on sick leave at all during their treatment.“
The excellent results of treatment of prostate can be demonstrated by the new report from Washington by National Association for Proton Therapy.
For more information: www.proton-therapy.org
May 14, 2024 
