Just got this press release from the Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University:

"FORT COLLINS – Colorado State University has entered into an unprecedented partnership with Japan that will allow the university to research a new, promising treatment for cancer – carbon ion therapy – which is currently not available in the United States.

Research will focus on carbon ion therapy to treat multiple cancers as well as look at medicinal chemistry therapy – the use of naturally-occurring chemicals such as antioxidants – that may increase the effectiveness of carbon ion therapy for cancer treatment."

It goes on to say:

"Carbon ion therapy works in a similar way to traditional radiation therapy that uses photons, in that a cancerous tumor is targeted with the goal to destroy cancer cells and tumors. Carbon ions, however, are much larger than photons and their size allows them to cause more havoc and create irreparable damage when they hit a cancer cell. Another benefit: unlike traditional radiation therapies, carbon ion treatments do not damage healthy cells in the path to the tumor. Scientists can control the depth in the body that the ions penetrate, and tailor the “shape” of the energy deposited by the carbon ions to closely match the shape of a tumor. Once the ions reach the tumor, the energy is delivered in a very narrow zone, almost like an explosion within the tumor. The treatment provides doctors with important options when targeting tumors near sensitive structures such as the brain."

You can read more about it here.

This sounds so cool. We hope that this leads the way to better treatment for our cancer pups.