Proton Therapy Becoming More Commonplace

New proton therapy centers are popping up in more places worldwide. To date, more than 40,000 patients at 25 centers around the world have received proton therapy treatment.

Beginning a new era in radiation treatment, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC; Houston, TX, USA) has started treating patients at its Proton Therapy Center. The first U.S. National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center to provide proton therapy treatment, the center will provide eligible patients with the most advanced innovations in radiation therapy.

Proton therapy is the most precise form of radiation treatment available for some tumors, according to James D. Cox, M.D., head of the division of radiation oncology at M.D. Anderson. Because of proton therapy's accuracy, it minimizes injury to surrounding tissues and optimizes treatment of the tumor.

"The arrival of proton therapy marks a milestone for radiation treatment at M.D. Anderson, with the precision, safety, and effectiveness it brings to patients,” remarked Dr. Cox. "Now, with the evolution of imaging techniques, we can pinpoint where the tumor is and plan the depth of the radiation to the tumor. With proton therapy, we will be able to increase doses of radiation, preserve healthy tissue and treat more patients much more successfully,” he continued.

Protons differ from conventional x-ray treatment because they deposit the highest dose of energy when they come to a stop in the body, and have a very low dose of energy when they enter and have no dose as it exits the body.

Proton therapy has proved most effective for cancers of the prostate, eye, lung, brain, head, and neck and cancers in children. Dr. Cox also reported that patients do not feel anything during proton therapy treatment, and because of the minimal effect on healthy tissues, they experience few, if any, side effects. He added that a major component to the Proton Therapy Center will be to explore new ways to best utilize and advance the field. All patients treated at the Proton Therapy Center at M.D. Anderson will be enrolled in clinical protocols that will document the results of therapy.

The two-story Proton Therapy Center features three gantry treatment rooms, one fixed-beam treatment room, an experimental treatment area, a full range of patient and research support areas, a synchrotron, and beam transport system. Gantry patient treatment rooms will have a patient treatment bed framed by a large wheel known as a gantry. The gantries, which are 35 feet in diameter and weigh about 200 tons--equivalent to the weight of a Boeing 757 airplane--rotate around the patient to direct the proton beam precisely at the tumor target.



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M.D. Anderson Cancer Center