Once the tumor’s location is accurately determined, proton therapy sessions may take anywhere from four to eight weeks. The appointment usually lasts 15 to 45 minutes, but the actual time it takes to deliver the proton beam is only one to three minutes, on average.

Particularly good candidates for proton therapy are patients with solid tumors near sensitive organs, such as brain, breast and lung cancers. While, for recurrent, pediatric and ocular cancers, proton radiation is viewed as the standard of care.

What side effects you experience will depend on what part of your body is being treated and the dose of proton therapy you receive. In general, common side effects of proton therapy include: Fatigue. Mouth, eating and digestion problems.

Proton therapy appears to be safer and more effective than conventional radiation therapy, because it can deliver a high dose to a very specific area, with minimal impact on surrounding tissues.

2. Will radiation treatment harm my immune system? Radiation therapy can potentially affect your immune system, especially if a significant amount of bone marrow is being irradiated because of its role in creating white blood cells.

The proton was discovered by Ernest Rutherford in the early 1900’s.

The idea of using protons in medical treatment was first suggested in 1946 by physicist Robert R. Wilson, Ph. D. The first attempts to use proton radiation to treat patients began in the 1950s in nuclear physics research facilities, but applications were limited to few areas of the body.

During the 1800s it became evident that electric charge had a natural unit, which could not be subdivided any further, and in 1891 Johnstone Stoney proposed to name it “electron.” When J.J. Thomson discovered the light particle which carried that charge, the name “electron” was applied to it.

Amber, for example, can acquire an electric charge by contact and separation (or friction) with a material like wool. Other examples of materials that can acquire a significant charge when rubbed together include glass rubbed with silk, and hard rubber rubbed with fur.

The word electricity comes from Greek word electron, which means amber. This amber effect, namely when rubbed with a cloth, the ability to attract some other objects is due to static electricity. When you walk across a carpet during a winter day, you probably noticed that you got shocked when you touched a doorknob.

When amber is rubbed with wool or silk, amber becomes positively charged. (b) There are two types of charges and they are positive charge and negative charge. (c) Like charges repel each other while the unlike charges attract each other.