The Irving-based Texas Center for Proton Therapy, a specialized cancer treatment center, hosted the annual IBA Proteus Users Meeting. There, 160 physicians, physicists, and proton therapy experts from 20 countries toured TCPT’s cancer center to learn about the proton-based care it provides to patients.
IBA Worldwide, a Belgium-based proton therapy technology company, chose TCPT to host the meeting to learn about the center’s innovative approach to using proton therapy to treat cancer, explore its equipment, and discuss future technology development.
Proton therapy utilizes the cyclotron, a 220-ton machine rotating 360 degrees to enable precise positioning of proton beams to targeted tumors. According to TCPT, this machine “accelerates protons extracted from hydrogen atoms. It then creates a proton beam line with sub-millimeter accuracy to destroy cancerous cells while minimizing damage to the surrounding healthy tissue.”
Usually, treatment sessions last for 15 to 40 minutes. Treatment courses take an estimated one day up to nine weeks, depending on the stage of cancer and tumor development.
The annual IBA Proteus Users Meeting aims to advance the provision of proton therapy. The event discussed how TCPT’s equipment—including its pencil-beam scanning for intensity modulated proton therapy and cone beam imaging, two isocentric gantry treatment rooms, and PET/CT and 3-Tesla MRI scanning and imaging technology—has treated benign and malignant tumors for patients.
Dr. Andrew Lee, medical director at Texas Center for Proton Therapy, says the technology offered at the center, including volumetric image guided proton therapy, is unique.
“[These procedures] often result in fewer side effects and greater quality of life for patients,” Lee told D CEO Healthcare.
TCPT has treated more than 455 patients with cancers of the brain, head and neck, lung, breast, lymphoma, gastrointestinal, and prostate since opening in November 2015. The center is one of only 25 in the U.S. that provides proton therapy, and the most advanced provider in North Texas.