Advanced Prostate Cancer Treatments

>> the hampton university protontherapy institute. 85â million pounds of concrete,430 tons of steel, and all heart.it's the largest free-standing proton therapy facility in theworld, harnessing the power of protons to target cancer tumorswith pinpoint accuracy. unlike traditional radiation,which affects both healthy and diseased tissue in its path,protons release their power in exactly the right place, leavingsurrounding healthy tissue largely undamaged.medical director dr.â christopher

shanassy explains.>> and the jump to protons is the first and major change inradiation therapy delivery that has happened in my lifetime.there are cancers in parts of the body that are so difficultto reach with standard x-rays that we really only have aproton option. when you don't irradiate thesensitive surrounding normal tissue, you drive the sideeffects down. that's what all the excitementis about. it's the prospect for highercure rates and less side

effects.>> you come out here and you don't feel tired.you feel nothing. i mean, it'sâ -- you can'texplain how incredible it really is.>> hampton roads leads the nation in prostate cancerfatalities. with early detection, protontherapy offers a treatment option with few side effects.>> it wasn't disruptive to my lifestyle at all.i was usually in here about 9:30 and probably around 9:45, i'mwalking out to head back to

work.>> proton therapy is also becoming a treatment of choicefor pediatric patients whose rapidly growing tissue is moresubject to injury from radiation.oncologist dr.â allen thornton has 20 years' experience inproton therapy. >> he's a nice dude, you know.he tells me everything. he tells me about what's goingon in me, you know. he's a great guy.>> that is your brain. >> no, i'm talking about theright side, what is that.

>> that's your ear.>> that's your ear. >> oh.>> i enjoying being able to translate relatively complexissues to patients and explain to them in a format that theycan understand. >> this side is looking at yourbrain from below. you're laying on the table andyour feet out. i'm looking at you here.>> many of the tumors with children that i treat, i'm ableto give a higher doze than i could withâ -- dose than i couldwith traditional therapy and

that tran lates into inâ --translates into increased cure for children.>> our staff of physicians, scientists, and radiationtherapists share years of experience in radiation,physics, and oncology. >> everybody knows that you'retreating patients who have dreaded disease.they look at it with fear and anxiety when they come here, soour mission is to make sure that they feel as comfortable as theycan when they come here and get the best care that is possible.>> we like to say it's a team

effort, and we're here to makecertain that the patients get the best treatment that can begiven. >> we bring with us a great dealof experience and knowledge of much of the research of thisfield that's being done, not only in north america, but alsoin asia and europe, which is important to realize.>> the caring and support we offer patients and theirfamilies is reflected in the center's spacious and sunnyarchitectural design. >> everybody was conpassionate,everybody had charisma and i

mean everybody across the board.>> the patients and the staff too, they become friends andpeople that you really value knowing.>> as soon as you walk in, it's, "hey, how you doing?"like mary beth, she basically became like my mother here.>> the hampton university proton therapy institute is about morethan treatment. >> we're going to get you rightback here to a dressing room. >> it is a center for researchby scientists and health professionals to expand cancertreatment and develop new

technologies.dr.â cynthia cap pell is scientific and technicaldirector of the institute and endowed professor of physics athampton university. >> this is the highest end ofcancer treatment and it's only going to stay the highest end ifyou continue to move it forward, so we want to expand protontherapy beyond the traditional prostate, pediatric, and outinto other kinds, breast, lung. to do that, sometimes we have tointroduce new technology, so we also are having implementationdevelopment.

we take on a large challengehere where we have technologies that really don't exist anywhereelse and we're attempting to integrate them in and bringthese to the patient. >> hello.my name is william harvey and i've served as president ofhampton since 1978. over the years, we've harnessedthe passion and dedication of so many of us to create new visionand new opportunities. the hampton university protontherapy institute is serving as a catalyst for new scientificdiscoveries and advanced care

for cancer patients.as we work together to save lives, ease human misery, andadvance medical knowledge, we build up our university, ourcommunity, and our world. >> you know, most often when ido video roll-ins, they're about 2â 1/2 to 3 minutes long, butbecause of the prominence that this facility has nationwide andindeed worldwide, and because it is something that the protontherapy just became available to folks inâ -- was it october of2010? >> yes, september 2010.>> because i know that for

myself, i opted to havebrachiotherapy because it wasn't available, but i'd like i wantedto take the time to show folks this video to let people knowthat proton therapy is indeed available and to give them agreater indeath look and understandâ -- indepth look andunderstanding what it involves. it is an impressive facility.can you tell us a little bit more about it?how many proton therapy facilities are there nationwideand on average, how many patients do you see in a year?>> sure.

well, currently there are tenproton therapy facilities in the u.s.when we opened in august of 2010, we became the eighthfacility and after two other facilities opened in chicago andin new jersey. we're currently operating withfour of our treatment rooms. at full capacity, we'll havefive treatment rooms and we're able to treat about 65 to 70patients per day and atâ -- >> per day, really?>> per day, yes. so at full capacity, we'll have,like i said, five treatment

rooms and we'll be able to seenearly 2,000 patients per year. >> so at opening in august 2010,but when was the first patient seen?was that inâ -- >> september the 1st.>> september the 1st. >> september the 1stâ -->> at the beginning of the month.what different kind of cancers do you treat there?>> okay, we're able to treat prostate, head and neck issues,pediatric cancers, liver, pancreatic, breast, and alsobrain cancers as well among

other cancers.>> now, the material that you sent me in advance of the show,there's a reference to gantry treatment room and a fixed-beamtreatment room and we're going to be able to put pictures ofthose on the screen in just a moment, but can you tell usabout those? that's the five treatment roomsyou're speaking about, but can you tell us a little bit aboutthem as we put the pictures up on the screen?the first one is the gantry room.>> okay, sure.

we have four gantry treatmentrooms and what is so special about the gantry treatment roomis that the patient is lying within an apparatus that weighs90 tons and is actually three stories high.they don't know it becauseâ -- >> three stories high?>> three stories high. >> and 90 tons?>> right. they see a false wall, so theydon't see what's behind that wall, but it is actually aferris wheel type apparatus that we call a gantry, hence the namethe gantry treatment room.

>> and the other one is thefixed-beam treatment room. >> right and the differencebetween those two rooms is that the fixed-beam, the nozzle isjust fixed and stationary in the wall.it doesn't move. >> when i got the tour of theplace, i felt that i was walking on to the deck of the starshipenterprise. it's amazing.>> yes. >> ronald, if you don't mind myasking, what kind of cancer did you have and when you diagnosed?>> terrance, i had prostate

kans.i was diagnosed in october of 2009.i was due to have, a week away from having surgery in januaryof 2010, and a friend of mine told me about the proton cancerfacility being built out there at the time and asked me if iwill check in to it, which i did, and called my cancerpatient navigator, who in turn called the surgeon, and he saidno problem, i would be a perfect candidate for proton therapy.he in turn arranged for an appointment with dr.â shanassyand i had several consultations

and went on from there.>> well, the doctor, as i said earlier, was my own radiationoncologist. >> yes.>> what was the experience like with the proton therapy?what was that whole experience like?can you describe the process? >> well, i've had no sideeffects. i feel absolutely fantastic.it didn't jeopardize anything in my daily living in any waywhatsoever or any activities whatsoever.i termed my experience as the

incredible journey, theadventure of a lifetime, and it truly has been becauseâ -- andit's something that i would never ever regret, you know.i would do it over again in aâ million years.>> sarita, that sound like something you should put on thebottom of your site, an incredible journey, an adventureof a lifetime. >> i know.>> very well said. >> and also the daily process isgoing out there five days a week.the treatment itself is 20 or 30

minutes long, getting situatedand all that. the actual treatment takes abouta minute or two for the beam to be, you know, initialized andall that. >> i was talking to one of thevideo graphers here, i won't mention him by name, but hementioned his father who had just finished a couple monthsago with proton therapy and they thought he was going to have tohave 45 treatments, but because of the efficacy of the process,it only needed 30. >> right.>> how many treatments did you

have and when did they begin?>> mine started september 1st of 2010, and in november 2nd of2010, i had a total of 44 treatments, which is fairlystandard but everything is individualized so some peoplemay have less than what i had, but the standard for prostatecancer should be 44 treatments. >> do you remember your prostatespecific antigen level, the psa level, what it was prior to andafter the procedure? >> yes, my psa level at the timewas 3.25, which was not alarming, but i went to myurologist, my prostate was

enlarged, so therefore, he tooksamples and found out that, yes, i did have cancer.and that's back in, like i said, in 2009, october 2009.then it has significantly dropped down to .4, .5, .71, andwhich is fantastic. >> indeed.>> after the treatment. and it's going to fluctuate forthe first year when you do have proton therapy, which theyexpect, because then that way it will establish a baseline forthem to go by as to what your prostate psa is going to go inthe future.

>> that's why early detection isso important, because it gives you so many more options.when i was diagnosed, my psa was like at 2.8, and again, i hadthe brachiotherapy, the insertion of the radioactiveseeds, and it does in fact bump because my latest psa was .45.previous to that, it was .25, so it bumps and they can figure andkeep where it is and that's going to be the maintenancelevel, where it's going to be. >> right.>> i wanted to ask you the advantages of proton therapy.he spoke of minimal side effects

and before we began taping it, isaid i did experience some side effects.like my psa level, i experienced some issues.what are some of the advantages of proton therapy?>> okay. well, proton therapy is a formof cancer treatment that is ables to target the tumorprecisely. it is a form of radiation thatcan actually be configured to the exact size and shape of thetumor and what that translates for the patient is reduced sideeffects as mr.â cosman explained.

every patient will have adifferent experience, but for the most part, it translates toa reduction in side effects for the patient and to date, over100,000 people worldwide have received proton therapy.>> 100,000 people. >> yes.>> now, of course, it's radiation therapy, traditionradiation therapy, that there is some tissue damage, versusproton therapy. now, explain this to me and imay be mistaken, but i think that with the proton beam, youcan target it for a specific

area, which minimizes damagebeyond that point. >> right.>> that's amazing, that's amazing.so it is like the starship enterprise, right?beam me up, scotty. let's see here, i want to makesure i get all of these questions in.let's paint a typical statistical portrait of prostatecancer and, indeed, the incidence of cancer statewideand the reason i want to do this is that, you know, hampton roadsexperiences the highest fatality

rate of prostate cancer in thenation, but a lot of folks are unaware that african americanmen have the highest rates ofâ -- in this area, have the highestrates of prostate cancer in the nation.some people arguably say the world.can you give us some other statistical data about cancer,relative to prostate cancer? >> sure.that is actually true, according to the american cancer society,african american and jamaica men lead the world in prostatecancer incidences and what that

means is, you know, africanamerican men especially need to stay on top of screenings and soforth. men in general as well becauseit's so prevalent, the incidences of prostate cancer,not just in african american, but especially so.but cancer in general is the second leading cause of deathandâ -- >> and that's in men and women?>> that's in men and women, yes. and in women, it's the leadingcause of death from ages 40 through 79 and in men, it's ages60 through 79, it's the leading

cause of death.but as well, one out of every three virginians will developsome form of cancer in his or her lifetime.>> wow. now, ronald, you look as thoughyou just graduated from college. howâ -- might i ask, how old wereyou when you were diagnosed? >> i was 63.>> was there any history, prior family history?>> yes, my father had prostate cancer and he was treated withthe traditional radiation, which, you know, he wound upgetting burnt and things like

that by the radiation and allthat and had several problems after that.so, you know, i really didn't want to go that route, butâ -->> it's incredible and i would say a blessing, you know, justpersonally speaking, i would say it's a blessing, that you wereable to do this like a week before you were scheduled forsurgery. >> yes, sir.yes, sir. the surgeon said he didn't havethat he problems doing it. like i said, he was good friendswith dr.â shanassy and he says,

don't worry about it, we'llcancer the surgery and go and have proton therapy.so i had his blessing and all that.i did have to have, however, a lupron shot about 2, 2â 1/2months prior to starting my treatment.>> what was that again? >> a lupron shot, which is anantihormone shot, which causes the prostateâ -- since mine wasenlarged, causes the prostate to shrink and the cancer cellsbecome more susceptible to the treatment.it also throws you into mail

menopause orâ -- male menopauseor hot flashes, so i can sympathize with all women whohave hot flashes. >> i think men go throughmenopause too. that's why they call itmen-o-pause. >> exactly.>> and as i'm talking here, i keep making repeated referencesto the starship enterprise, and when he's talking about protontherapy and about prostate cancer, the oncologist is justso well informed, absolutely well informed, and i thinkthatâ -- i'd lot of to have him

comeâ -- love to have him come onto the show at some point. >> he would love to.>> i would definitely get him on to the show.ronald, for those people that are contemplating, that havebeen diagnosed and they're looking at the options that areavailable to them, now, we've heard the statisticalâ -- well,we've heard the advantages that proton therapy offers, but fromyour personal experience, why would you recommend protontherapy versus brachiotherapy or external beam radiation?>> well, it's less invasive.

it has less effects on youractivity like regular chemo and radiation would.definitely if you had the total prostatectomy, that definitelywould interrupt all kinds of activity and the side effectsafter those, i wouldn't want to go through.like i said, i've had no side effects whatsoever, didn'taffect my daily activity. i was able to go do whatever iwanted to and i go out there frequently toâ -- about every dayto the proton therapy and talk to future patients as well ascurrent patients to, you know,

for the new patients, take someof the stress and anxiety out of what they may go through on adaily basis as a patient and also talk with the currentpatients to see if they're having any problems or any sideeffects, and it's fantastic camaraderie that you developwith all the patients out there. i may not remember all theirnames, you know, their faces are familiar, but when you'redealing with almost 200 patients that have gone through there,it's difficult to remember some of their names, but i work veryclosely with francine baton, the

patient coordinator out there.she lets me know when prostate patients are going to be outthere, so i come out there and visit with them and answer anyquestions from a patient standpoint that they may have,any questions they may have for me to answer, whatever.i by all means don't give any kind of medical advice since i'mnot qualified to do that. >> but you make for a fittingambassador for theâ -- >> thank you.>>â -- proton therapy institute and also as the very firstpatient to ever receive care

there.before we run out of time, i want to make sure we givecontact information for our viewers who would be interestedin getting out to the proton therapy institute.how can folks get in touch with you or the institute?>> okay. well, to reach us by phone,people can call 757-251-6800, or access our website athamptonproton.org. >> hamptonproton.org.>> right. >> now, we don't have it on thescreen, but could you just give

us that facebook and twitter?who manages that twitter account anyway?i'm sure that's probably you. what is the facebook address youguys can be reached at? >> right.facebook.com/hamptonproton and that's the same for our twitterpage as well. >> hamptonproton?>> yes. and we manage it in the p.r.department. >> in the p.r. department?so you justâ -- i've never done twitter.>> really?

>> yes, i'm aâ -- what is it,twerp, because i haven't done twitter.how does it feel to be the first patient there?>> oh, it's just something that no one could ever imagine,having great interviews such as yourself and being in thenewspaper and being able to go out and reach all kinds ofpatients out there, not only prostate cancer patients, butother type of cancer patients, and, you know, it's really beena great enlightening experience and like i said, i would neverchange it for the world.

i look forward to, you know,expanding my ambassadorship, so to speak, to be out there andlearn more and more about, as we progress with new types ofcancer, being out there, how they treat them and all thattype of thing. >> so they haven't called you anambassador yet? that's something you need tofix. ronald cosman, ambassador,hampton university proton therapy institute.>> there you go. >> i want to thank both of youfor coming on today.

we've covered a lot ofinformation and i think for those viewers out there, becausethere are going to be people out there with not just prostatecancer, but some of those cancers you mentioned that aregoing to be interested in the proton therapy.so again, thank you so very much for coming on.>> thank you. >> i also want to thank thestudents as well, the students from the terravizion entertakement group who joined us today and i'll see you guys inclass tomorrow evening.

by the time this gets on the airthough, the class will be over. most importantly, we want tothank you for joining us today for this edition of"healthwatch." and remember, you can watchprevious editions of "healthwatch" online and if youwould like to drop me a line, you can e-mail me atterrance.afer-anderson@vdh. virginia.gov.please also feel free give me a call at 757-683-8836.now, if you want to get to us online, that's www.norfolk.gov.for the norfolk department of

public health, i'm terranceafer-anderson and this has been "healthwatch."captioning provided by caption associates, llcwww.captionassociates.com