A 71 year old Califorian is the first breast cancer patient to receive treatment with proton therapy at the recently opened Scripps Proton Therapy Centre  which is one of 15 operational proton centres in the USA.

Anastasia C. Berkheimer chose to have proton radiation because of the precision of the treatment to ensure the radiation did not cause damage to her heart. Anastasia, who has a heart condition, wanted to protect both her heart and lungs located just beneath the tumour.

Anastasia battled breast cancer two years prior to receiving proton therapy. She had travelled to Los Angeles for more than three months of x-ray radiation therapy where she suffered from severe bouts of nausea, rashes and fatigue. To her great relief, Anastasia did not have any similar side effects either during or after he two week course of proton therapy.

Speaking about her treatment Anastasia said: "Proton therapy is so precise, they could kill the cancer without damaging my heart or affecting my active lifestyle." 

A 2013 report in the New England Journal of Medicine found that women who received x-ray treatments to their left breast developed a higher risk for heart disease, which was directly linked to the dose and volume of heart that was irradiated during treatment.

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