Wall Street Journal Article Off the (Proton) Beam

The Wall Street Journal missed the (proton) mark in its December 9th Personal Health article:
Prostate Cancer Patients Have Host of Treatment Options. But Too Often They Hear About Only One - Surgery

The usually reliable financial newspaper that tries to cover it all missed out on an opportunity to inform its readers about proton therapy. While reviewing all the possible alternatives to the most radical treatment -- surgery to remove the prostate, the paper failed to cover the most advanced non-invasive treatment option available. The Journal is to be commended for its informative approach and for alerting men diagnosed with prostate cancer that ".despite a number of treatment options, many men will undergo radical prostatectomies without consulting other, less-invasive procedures that might be just as effective." The Journal article goes on to report that "one reason men don't learn of other options is that prostate cancer patients typically are first referred to surgeons, and many of the newer treatments are performed by other doctors, such urologists, radiologists or oncologists who specialize in prostate malignancies."

What's interesting about this is the Journal was the first major newspaper back in 1989 to call attention to the potential breakthrough of proton therapy in a featured page one article on the world's first hospital-based proton facility at Loma Linda University Medical Center. Since opening in 1990, more than 5,000 men have sought to avoid radical surgery for their prostate cancer and completed the 5-6 week course of proton therapy treatment with minimum to no side effects.

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