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Back on the subject of Proton Beam, I received this from the Bro. of Balloon site. Seems pretty conclusive, although accompanied by the usual "We ain't no doctors" disclaimer:
Homer,
The reason you haven't seen much published on this is that it has been a non problem for the past 24 years. We have more than 7,000 members in our group. in the past 14 years, two have indicated they had hip problems, but it was never confirmed to be from their proton treatment. Lots of men have hip problems as they get older. We see no increase in that number in our membership.
Multiple surveys of our group show extremely high quality of life after treatment.
Keep in mind that although the protons travel through the hips, very little radiation is deposited on the hips. Almost all of the radiation is deposited in the prostate. When IMRT is used, most of the radiation is deposited on healthy tissue in the torso, including the hips.
I hope this is helpful.
Deb Hickey
Brotherhood of the Balloon
