October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

According to BreastCancer.org, approximately one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.

October is breast cancer awareness month and a great time to support breast cancer research as well as breast cancer survivors. Penn Medicine is home to two award-winning breast centers: the Rena Rowan Breast Center at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center and the Integrated Breast Center at Pennsylvania Hospital, part of the Joan Karnell Cancer Center. Both centers are accredited by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers.

October is also a great time to schedule your yearly mammogram. Penn Medicine is proud to be one of the region’s only medical centers offering digital breast tomosynthesis at the Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine.

At risk for breast cancer? Find out at the Mariann and Robert MacDonald Women's Cancer Risk Evaluation Center.

• 10 Facts for Breast Cancer Awareness
• Diagnosed with BRCA 1 or 2? Learn more about the Basser Research Center.

Proton Therapy for Prostate Cancer: A Patient’s Story

When Frank McKee was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he wanted to find the best treatment to fight the disease. After extensively researching treatment options, he finally chose proton therapy, the world’s most advanced form of radiation therapy.

“I wanted to treat the cancer and I wanted to be done with it in a way that had a minimum amount of side effects and affected my life the least,” McKee said. 

Proton therapy offers a variety of benefits to patients with prostate cancer. These include:

• Reduced radiation to normal, healthy tissues
• Decreased chance of side effects, complications and toxicity
• Maximum radiation dose administered directly to the tumor
• Fewer daily treatments, as deemed appropriate 
• Ability to re-treat tumors

“My life has been very, very full in the last year and a half since I finished treatment,” said McKee. “There are times I totally forget I had prostate cancer. And that’s a good thing.”

• Register online for a one-on-one phone consultation 
• Treated with Proton Therapy? Sign up for the Proton Patient Alumni Group 
• Learn more about prostate cancer care at Penn's Abramson Cancer Center