When healthy tissue can be spared, the patients' quality of life during and after treatment is optimized. The child or adult being treated is spared many of the debilitating side effects such as hair loss, nausea, and a lengthy recovery that is associated with conventional radiation or extensive surgery.

Proton therapy is the most precise and advanced form of radiation treatment today. It primarily radiates the tumor site, leaving surrounding healthy tissue and organs intact. Conventional x-ray radiation often radiates healthy tissue in its path and surrounding the tumor site. Chemotherapy moves throughout the entire body, unlike radiation and surgery which are considered “site specific” treatments. Find out how Proton Therapy works.

Although proton therapy is the most advanced form of radiation treatment today, great strides can be made in the technology, improving and expanding treatment possibilities. The photo on the left shows a new robotic arm that will soon be deployed at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Adding funds to the James M. Slater Chair for Proton Research will help move new protocols forward and enable Loma Linda to continue working with companies such as Optivus Technology, Inc. in advancing proton beam therapy treatment.