Protom beam therapy is also available at Harvard -- this and Loma Linda are the only centers I believe. It has NOT proven better in controlling prostate cancer and in fact, the stats are not as good as for combined IMRT / brachytherapy for this particular disease. On the surface it sounds as if it should be better, but the long-term follow-up is apparently a bit disappointing. Lots of controversy on the prostate web sites about this technology (which is also very expensive -- $100K for PC treatment so lots of insurances won't cover. )

Having said that, lots of guys have used it for PC and swear by its accuracy and tissue/organ preservation ability -- important QOL issues, so obviously there are two sides to this.

And as regards Tomo, guess I will rely on the advice & expertise of the docs at Hopkins -- they want me to have it for my own benefit even though it would be simpler time-wise if I just used the IMRT device. Dr Lee's specialty is parotid gland preservation and he is apparently pretty good at accomplishing this. We shall see...it is great you have such recovery of your salivary function, almost no one else I have spoken to with my stage disease is as well off.

Barry Cooper