Last year, Brett and Nagmeh King were arrested for removing their son Ashya from Southampton hospital and taking him to the Czech Republic for proton therapy, an alternative to chemotherapy that the Kings opted for over chemo. As a result, they sparked an international manhunt.
According to Daily Mail, though the Kings risked it all in order to give their son the treatment that they desired, it might have proven to be worth it: Ashya was declared cancer-free in March of last year.
Now, a study published in the Lancet Oncology journal is claiming proton beam therapy causes fewer side effects in child patients compared to conventional radiotherapy.
Ashya was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a rare brain tumor. The study indicates that both photon-based radiotherapy, like chemotherapy, and proton radiotherapy have similar survival rates among young people.
“Our findings suggest that proton radiotherapy seems to result in an acceptable degree of toxicity and had similar survival outcomes to those achieved with photon-based radiotherapy,” the study said.
Though their survival rates are comparable, the study suggests that the side effects associated with proton beam therapy are less severe than that of its photon-based equivalent.
“Although there remain some effects of treatment on hearing, endocrine, and neurocognitive outcomes – particularly in younger patients – other late effects common in photon-treated patients, such as cardiac, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal toxic effects, were absent,” the study said.
While these absent side-effects might benefit patients undergoing radiotherapy cancer treatments, it doesn’t seem to be more effective than traditional treatments. It has been suggested as an “alternative to photon-based treatments.”