|
|
|
Join your Pals at the Wednesday night dinners. The locations rotate among various restaurants in Houston. See the schedule at the reception desk. Tell your ProtonPal friends about Joe's House to find housing in the Medical Center area. This link is also on the website and on MDACC website.
|
|
|
Going !Credits to Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust
|
Greetings!
HOUSTON: Happy Summer and hope you can be in a cool place to enjoy the season without working up a sweat, unless you choose to. Here in Houston, it's six o'clock in the evening and 95.4 degrees in the shade. I'm writing this after returning from a Beam News meeting where Dave Stevens gave one of his presentations to a large group of new patients and some survivors who live in the area. As is customary, Dave did an outstanding job of discussing a heavy topic with enough humor to lightening things up a bit. He always has new research gleaned from the stacks at the M.D. Anderson medical research library; and this month he data and analysis from 2 recent papers by Dr. Andrew Lee.
We're planning to take a vacation from the newsletter chores this summer and I hope you'll understand. The newsletter will continue to be mailed monthly but the content will be somewhat brief. It will include new announcements as these happen and we foresee we'll be able to announce the ProtonPals Children's Toy and Activity fun in June when the process gets worked out. We'll be back full force in September when a group of the ProtonPals will attend the annual Anderson Survivors Conference being held on Friday - Saturday September 14 th and 15 th at the Omni Westside.
Some notable news this month are:
1) The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force made it's prostate cancer screening recommendation final on May 17 and categorized it as a "D". The headline from our brothers at the U.S. Too group says it all - Government Eliminates Early Detection for Prostate Cancer, Fails American Men
As Dave pointed out in his presentation, much of the Task Force recommendation was based on a biased US study where there was cross-contamination in that 52% of the sample supposedly not given PSA tests actually took them anyway! That, of course, grossly understated the benefit from PSA tests. In addition, only 41% of those taking the test whose PSA exceeded 4 mg/NL were given biopsies! (You have to have a biopsy to find out if the PSA test detected cancer or not.) Besides, it's not the PSA test that the Task Force purports to object to, but overtreatment of men whose cancers develop so slowly that they don't need treatment and should be on a watchful waiting program instead. I will agree that it may be over treatment when a Gleason 6 has surgery but there are many factors that lead the oncologist to his decision decision and a healthy 80 year old man like Warren Buffett (remember he's over the 75 year cutoff age for treatment) could very well have 10 to 15 more years of productive active life. Dying from metastatic prostate cancer is very painful and without screening this is what you'll many men whose doctors follow the USPSTF guidelines will be cursed with, especially men under 60 in good health. The Task Force ignored the fact that PSA screening has prevented many deaths from prostate cancer. 2) The final recommendation was rebutted by nine leading prostate cancer oncologist "What the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Missed in Its Prostate Cancer Screening Recommendation"
3) On April 17 the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) carried a highly biased article casting doubt on proton therapy efficacy published by the University of North Carolina (UNC). It was picked up by all the main media when the University of North Carolina researchers held a news conference in early February and continues to this day. They announced their findings comparing three patient treatment methods for prostate cancer patients: conformal radiation therapy (CRT), intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), and proton therapy. To much fanfare and publicity, they concluded that Proton Therapy is expensive yet no better than IMRT, and that IMRT has fewer long term rectal side effects than Proton Therapy.
The study was analyzed by four gentlemen who I highly respect: 1) Dr. Carl Rossi formerly at Loma Linda now the Medical Director at Scripps Proton Center, 2) Robert Marckini, founder of the Brotherhood of the Balloon, 3) Dr. Andrew Lee, lead GU radiation oncologist at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Proton Therapy Center and 4) David Stevens, ProtonPals director and leader.
In his presentation, Dave pointed out several problems with the UNC study and the article, of which two were: a) The newspapers ignored the disclaimer buried near the end of the UNC article cautioning that no physician should follow the study's recommendations until further study had been conducted; and b) the UNC article did not mention how IMRT could result in less rectal side effects than Protons when it is considered that Protons affect a much smaller rectal area than IMRT's X-rays. Loma Linda's former Chief Radiation Oncologist Dr. Carl Rossi's summary focused on how the study is seriously flawed, for example:
a) Difference in radiation doses
b) Difference in treatment planning
c) Difference in patient follow up protocol
The UNC study conclusion stands in direct opposition to the published results of a multi-institutional prospective, randomized trial which showed that there is less long term rectal toxicity (and far less bladder and urinary toxicity) with Proton Therapy patients than that experienced by IMRT patients who received a radiation dose equivalent to that of the proton beam patients. Of course, the UNC study did not mention or try to reconcile it's conclusions with those prior studies.
Neither Dr. Rossi nor ProtonBob Marckini in his analysis pull any punches --- both point out that the study was funded by Medicare. To put this in context (I hope) I'd use a line my favorite author, Donna Leon has Commissari Brunetti of the Venetian Polizia say in her latest novel; as he talks with his colleague about corruption in the Italian government and the bureaucracy of the European Union.
"In the presence of a trough, it is difficult not to oink."
I will agree that it may be over treatment when a Gleason 6 has surgery but there are many factors that lead the oncologist to his decision decision and a healthy 80 year old man like Warren Buffett (remember he's over the 75 year cutoff age for treatment) could very well have 10 to 15 more years of productive active life. Dying from metastatic prostate cancer is very painful and without screening this is what you'll be cursed with if you follow the USPSTF guidelines.
In Gratitude,
Joe Landry and your ProtonPals team.
 | Lower Panel in Going and Coming - Vacation's Over
credit to Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust in Stockbridge MA. |
"In Going and Coming (1947), ..... Rockwell shows how the proliferation of automobiles after World War II helped to create a new type of family vacation. (left: Going and Coming , Saturday Evening Post cover, August 30,1947, oil on canvas, 16 x 31 1/2 and 16 x 31 1/2 inches, © 1947 Curtis Publishing Company. From the permanent collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge, Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust)" |
| What the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Missed in its Prostate Cancer Screening Recommendations | Underestimated the Benefits and Overestimated the Harms
William J. Catalona, MD; Anthony V. D'Amico, MD; William F. Fitzgibbons, MD; Omofolasade Kosoko-Lasaki, MD; Stephen W. Leslie, MD; Henry T. Lynch, MD; Judd W. Moul, MD; Marc S. Rendell, MD; and Patrick C. Walsh, MDThe U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a panel that does not include urologists or cancer specialists, has just recommended against prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening for prostate cancer, stating that "screening may benefit a small number of men but will result in harm to many others" (1). Recognizing that prostate cancer remains the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in men, we, an ad hoc group that includes nationally recognized experts in the surgical and radiological treatment of prostate cancer, oncologists, preventive medicine specialists, and primary care physicians, believe that the USPSTF has underestimated the benefits and overestimated the harms of prostate cancer screening. Therefore, we disagree with the USPSTF's recommendation. NOTE: This is a long article and to read the entire rebuttal link here. READ MORE |
National Association for Proton Therapy
| The Voice of the Proton Community
The NAPT web site has continued to improve over the 5 years I've been relying on it and now reports on the 10 centers operating in North America with 7 under construction or development. The site reports that there are 10 centers operating and 5 under construction and 2 under development in North America.
|
| Texas Patriotism Anyone | Stars at Night are Big and Bright ...
Ban Capron, cofounder of the ProtonPals has had some spare time when his foot and lower leg were in a cast and that time he's put it to great use. He took some slides from his vast collection of photographs over the years to put on a slide show on YouTube. This video is loved by Ban's friends and fellow Texans so much so that it has a huge viewership. Video with Music
|
| Ask Dr. Myers | What is Dr. Myers Growth Arrest Program?
Dr. Myers' patients are typically prostate patients who've been treated with surgery, external radiation, chemo therapy and are experiencing a recurrence.
Many times some of his patients are seeing a PSA recurrence where the PCa malignancy are in the lymph nodes. For these cases he talks about a program he will place them under until, like the approach taken with leukemia, he has induced remission and prescribes an approach to maintain remission. He talks about how he drives all of it into remission, and then establishes a non toxic or low toxicity regimen designed to minimize side effects.
His last three weekly videos are entitled -
- Slowing PCa Growth
- PCa Growth Arrest Case Study
- Buying Time with Growth Arrest
|
| Nutrition Guidelines for Cancer Survivors | Supplied by MDACC
If you follow Dr. Myers blog you'll recall that a key part of his PCa Growth Arrest Program is the Meditarean Diet or a standard heart healthy diet and lifestyle that fits the recommendations of the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.Do yourself a favor and download this 28 page guide and take the ACS Nutrition and Activity quiz. ion-guide Download the Guide. and start your own PCa Growth Arresting Program.
|
|
About the ProtonPals Organization
Thanks for subscribing to the newsletter and using the ProtonPals website. We won't sell or give your addresses to anyone. You'll receive one or at most two mailings a month from us. If you're a new subscriber you may want to note that the past newsletters are archived back to May 2009. Newsletter Archives
We're a group who chose proton beam therapy to cure their cancer and were treated at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Proton Therapy Center in Houston, Texas. The "Pals" formed a network in order to:
Stay up to date with treatment cure resultsProvide support to others and Center activitiesBe informed on any side- effectsPromote proton radiation since it's widely regarded to have a significant advantage over conventional x-rays.Attract and nurture more Pals who support our cause, patient-to-patient and friend-to-friend
Support ProtonPals by letting us know how you're doing. That is so important to newly diagnosed men and their wives and partners. As a former patient we'd all welcome your help in getting the word out about proton radiation and how you're doing. Please donate using the Donate Icon below or mail a check made out to ProtonPals, Ltd.(we're a tax deductible non-profit) at my home address. Read more about about it on the website How to Help - Giving
Sincerely, 
Joe Landry, Founder
ProtonPals, Ltd.
ProtonPals, Ltd. is a 501 (c) (3) public charity incorporated in Texas.
|
|
|
