Sept. 02--Every time Robert Rak walks through a security scanner at an airport, he sets off the alarm.
Rak isn't packing heat, but rather three tiny copper transponders in his prostate gland that may have helped cure him of cancer.
Rak, 71, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in late 2009. But his cancer is now in remission after several treatments using the Calypso System. The state-of-the-art radiation technology is used at Sonoran Desert Medical Oncology, a cancer treatment center in Yuma. The machine is one of about 40 in the United States.
Today the Yuma man reports that he feels much better.
"I have other medical issues, but as far as the prostate cancer, I'm fine. About the only side effect that I had from the treatment was a little bit of fatigue. Even now I still have a little bit of fatigue but I can lay down for a little catnap and I'm fine."
Calypso enables radiation oncology clinicians to keep the target -- in Rak's case, the prostate -- in the path of the radiation beam at all times. The system detects the slightest tumor movement, which helps clinicians deliver maximum radiation directly to the tumor while avoiding healthy surrounding tissues and organs, according to the company that manufactures Calypso.
At the heart of Calypso's technology are three implantable beacon transponders that transmit a radio frequency signal to the electromagnetic array, generating position and motion information about the target. Each beacon transponder looks like a clear tubular pill packed with copper winding similar to the filament in a light bulb.
Rak's transponders were inserted by his urologist prior to radiation treatments.
"It is kind of like doing a biopsy of the prostate," he told the Yuma Sun. "It is about the same pain level. Every once in awhile you get that quick sharp pain when they are implanting them."
The transponders are intended for permanent implantation in the prostate prior to external beam therapy, which is why Rak is still setting off alarms in airports. Now he carries a card with him to let the security personnel know about his condition.
Rak's battle with prostate cancer began after a blood screening in 2009. Rak said he wasn't in pain and wouldn't have known he had the disease without the blood work.
According to William Shea, M.D., who heads Sonoran Desert Medical Oncology, being unaware of the presence of prostate cancer is extremely common.
"Although prostate cancer is very prevalent in the population, the overall majority of men who have it will never get sick from it," Shea said. "The reason for that is prostate cancer in the majority of men tends to be a very indolent disease, meaning slowly progressive. Because men tend to be older when they develop it, most men will die from some other problem like heart disease or other types of cancers."
After a discussion with Shea, Rak decided Calypso was right for him.
"After we found out it was definitely cancer, I was given some options on treatment. I chose radiation. We came here and talked to Dr. Shea. He went through what the treatment would be like and we decided to go ahead with it."
From January to April of this year, Rak attended several treatments overseen by Shea.
"You get up on the table and they put this thing over top of you and it awakens the transponders and sets the machine so that it is a more direct application of radiation," Rak explained. "Each treatment takes about 15 minutes."
The procedure seems to have worked for Rak. "Dr. Shea will check again in another six months, but he is confident that we pretty much caught it and knocked it out."
Rak said it was a scary experience to find out he had prostate cancer. "It's going to kill me," he said, chuckling about what he thought at the time. "It was terrifying."
When Rak finished his last treatment, the medical staff at Sonoran Oncology helped him celebrate.
"They have a ritual here," he said. "When you come in for your first treatment, they ask you a lot of questions about your favorite color, favorite food (and so forth) so when you are done, they present you with a personal certificate with pictures of your favorite things and everybody signs them. Then you go on into the waiting room and beat the heck out of the gong. It's a going-away ceremony -- you survived."
Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.
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