Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer: A Patient’s Story

When Frank McKee was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he wanted to find the best treatment to fight the disease. After extensively researching treatment options, he finally chose proton therapy, the world’s most advanced form of radiation therapy.

“I wanted to treat the cancer and I wanted to be done with it in a way that had a minimum amount of side effects and affected my life the least,” McKee said. 

Proton therapy offers a variety of benefits to patients with prostate cancer. These include:

• Reduced radiation to normal, healthy tissues
• Decreased chance of side effects, complications and toxicity
• Maximum radiation dose administered directly to the tumor
• Fewer daily treatments, as deemed appropriate 
• Ability to re-treat tumors

“My life has been very, very full in the last year and a half since I finished treatment,” said McKee. “There are times I totally forget I had prostate cancer. And that’s a good thing.”

• Register online for a one-on-one phone consultation 
• Treated with Proton Therapy? Sign up for the Proton Patient Alumni Group 
• Learn more about prostate cancer care at Penn's Abramson Cancer Center

The Penn Brain Tumor Center: Caring for Patients from Discovery to Recovery

The Penn Brain Tumor Center consists of a multidisciplinary team of specialists who provide personalized treatment and cutting-edge therapy for benign and malignant brain tumors. With top-ranked cancer and neurosurgery clinicians and scientists, the Penn Brain Tumor Center offers the most complete spectrum of care for patients with brain tumors in the Philadelphia region.

Available treatment options include:

• Neuromonitoring, including awake craniotomy, language and motor mapping
• MR-guided surgery with diffusion tractography to detect fiber tracts
• Personalized medicine with molecular profiling of brain tumors
• CyberKnife^®
• Gamma Knife^®
• Proton therapy
• Clinical trials
• Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT)
• Advanced neurosurgery for complex and “inoperable” brain tumors
• Endoscopic approaches to skull-base tumors

The Penn Brain Tumor Center is translating research into new therapeutics to treat brain tumors, including personalized drug, vaccine and molecular targeted therapies. In addition, as an active member of the National Cancer Institute’s Adult Brain Tumor Consortium (ABTC), the Center offers patients access to clinical trials that are not available anywhere else in the region.

The Penn Brain Tumor Center has been recognized by the American Brain Tumor Association for providing the highest quality care and advancing understanding and treatment of brain cancer. 

From translational research to cutting edge clinical trials and the latest treatment options, the Penn Brain Tumor Center is committed to providing exceptional care to patients with brain tumors.

• Learn more about the Penn Brain Tumor Center
• Meet the Penn Neurosurgery team
• Learn about proton therapy

Proton Therapy for Lung Cancer: The Most Advanced Radiation Therapy Available

Lung cancer is the nation’s leading cause of cancer death for both men and women. Penn Medicine offers a comprehensive team approach for treating lung cancer, including proton therapy, the most advanced form of radiation therapy available today. Radiation oncologists at the Roberts Proton Therapy Center use high-speed protons to create a particle beam that delivers precise radiation directly to the tumor. Proton therapy allows patients to receive higher, more targeted doses of radiation, which helps preserve surrounding healthy tissue. For patients, this means fewer side effects.

• Watch survivor stories from lung cancer patients treated at Penn Medicine
• Learn more about Penn Radiation Oncology

Patient Story: Proton Therapy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Proton Therapy Helped Me Share Moments with My Grandchildren
Kathy Brandt was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in 2011 at her local hospital. After much research, and a recommendation from her brother-in-law, who is a physician, Kathy chose Penn Medicine for her lung cancer treatment, which included proton therapy. Today, Kathy is cancer free. 

You hear the word “cancer” and it's truly terrifying.

It was basically just a checkup with my pulmonologist because I have emphysema. He sent me for a chest X-ray and that is when they found the tumor in my lung. It was a terrifying time and thankfully I had strong family surrounding me - strong family helping me make decisions about what kind of treatment I should have. After that initial diagnosis, when you feel like you have been hit with a ton of bricks, then the decision needs to be made where you are going to seek treatment. My brother-in-law, who is a physician, along with my pulmonologist suggested I go to Penn Medicine for treatment.

Penn Medicine was a wonderful choice for us. They used a team approach.  I saw an oncologist, I saw a surgeon, and the radiologist is all located at Penn Medicine.  It was very comforting to know that all these people are just working to take care of you and to make you better.

I was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer at the end of June.  My surgery was the beginning of August and chemo started in September. It was finished in November.  I started proton therapy in December, which lasted for 4 weeks.

Deciding to Have Proton Therapy at Penn
I decided to go with the proton radiation because of the cancer’s proximity to my heart and spine. I chose proton therapy because I knew it would be more precise and would have less side effects and that was very important to me.

The Proton Therapy Experience
Every day for 5 weeks, I would leave work, come home, and my husband would take me to Penn for proton therapy. After the treatment, we’d go home and I’d spend time with my grandchildren and their parents, who were living with us at the time. My granddaughter was about 3 months old at the time. And I would take her, feed her, and just spend time with the people that meant the most to me.

I really felt wonderful. I continued to work the whole time I had proton therapy – I never missed a day of work, actually. I was a bit more tired than usual, but that was really the only side effect I felt.

When I completed proton therapy, I rang the bell.  Everybody in the waiting room clapped, and we went home and I think I had a very big glass of wine after treatment was finished.

After Proton Therapy
Today, I don’t sweat the small stuff.

I would tell anyone to feel very comfortable going to Penn Medicine, and I would tell anyone to also feel very comfortable in choosing proton therapy simply because of the fewer side effects and its extreme precision.  I would recommend Penn Medicine wholeheartedly.  I cannot say enough good things about my experience.

Learn More About Proton Therapy at Penn Medicine
Proton therapy is a non-invasive, incredibly precise cancer treatment that uses a beam of protons moving at very high speeds to destroy the DNA of cancer cells killing them and preventing them from multiplying.

Unlike conventional radiation that can affect surrounding healthy tissue as it enters the body and targets the tumor, proton therapy’s precise, high dose of radiation is extremely targeted. This targeted precision causes less damage to healthy, surrounding tissue.

Watch the full video of Kathy's experience.

Learn more about proton therapy, or schedule a consultation with a radiation oncologist at Penn Medicine.