Proton therapy is a highly advanced technique that allows radiation oncologists to target tumors with the maximum cancer-destroying capabilities of radiation while decreasing dose to healthy tissue and organs. Proton therapy is an effective treatment option for adults and children with specific types of cancer.
UH Seidman Cancer Center and the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, use the next generation of proton beam delivery systems – the MEVION S250 from Mevion Medical Systems. This is a first-of-its-kind, compact model that more efficiently and cost-effectively delivers powerful cancer-fighting proton beam radiation therapy.
UH’s Proton Therapy Center is the only center in the world that is 100 feet from a full-service, nationally ranked children’s hospital – UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, whose patients in the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute will benefit from the close proximity. The center is also less than 500 feet from UH Seidman Cancer Center, where patients with cancers of the brain, head, neck, spine and lung can also access treatment.
The MEVION S250 system combines the most advanced proton therapy technologies available today – ensuring safe, effective treatment delivery.
UH’s MEVION S250 features a unique single-room system that is significantly smaller and more economical than first-generation proton therapy technology, while delivering the same powerful cancer-fighting radiation therapy.
The entire unit fits into a three-story space that is 40 feet wide by 40 feet long and 40 feet tall – a fraction of the space needed for traditional proton therapy units.
Traditional radiation therapy uses photon (X-ray) beams, which are highly effective for a broad variety of cancers. Photons pass into the patient to the tumor and then exit through the patient. However, photons’ lack of charge and mass means that most of their energy is deposited in normal tissues near the body’s surface, as well as areas of the body beyond the site of the cancer.
With proton therapy, heavy, charged particles penetrate the tumor, but then they stop. Because protons are energized to specific velocities, the radiation oncologist can determine how deeply in the body they will deposit their maximum energy. The elimination of the exit dose for passively scattered proton beams results in greatly reduced low and intermediate doses to normal tissues.
Protons are most successful in treating solid tumors with well-defined borders that have not spread. It is most often used for tumors of the brain, head, neck, lungs and spine. Due to the decrease in unnecessary dose to normal tissues, children and young adults stand to benefit the most from this type of radiation therapy.
Benefits of proton therapy include:
Proton therapy is currently available in 24 locations in the United States. Traditional proton therapy systems cost upwards of $200-300 million to build and are typically the size of a football field. The cost, size and complexity of these conventional proton therapy systems have greatly limited their widespread clinical use.