Proton therapy targets cancer without harming healthy cells

March 5, 2009

It sounds like power belonging only to a superhero: a high-powered beam that is able to zap a millimeter area within someone’s body, and yet not harm the surrounding healthy cells.

Heroic — yes, but this is not in comic books. It’s happening in real life, in nearby Jacksonville.

The University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute, located near Shands Jacksonville, is one of just five such facilities in the country, and one of 21 in the world.

In this rare treatment, nuclear technology is used to project protons into tumors at nearly the speed of light. Unlike traditional radiation therapy with X-rays, proton therapy helps reduce the incidence of secondary cancers and other potential side effects of treatment by reducing the amount of radiation to surrounding body parts.

“Proton therapy offers hope for increased cancer control and a better quality of life in cancer survivors,” Dr. Nancy Mendenhall, the institute’s medical director, said.

Opened in August 2006, the facility now treats more than 100 patients daily from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Patients are assigned to one of three treatment areas for the duration of treatment. Each area includes a large gantry resembling a Ferris wheel, but patients see only about 10 percent of the gantry. The majority is enclosed behind a wall, along with a 440,000-pound cyclotron that generates and accelerates protons to each gantry.

Appointments last an average of 30 minutes, with the proton treatment itself taking just one to three minutes. Patients return five days a week, for six to eight continuous weeks.

Daily therapy appointments provide numerous opportunities for interaction among patients. The institute encourages camaraderie with social activities such as weekly “lunch bunch” gatherings, the hosting of guest pianists and the offering of a coffee bar in the modern, glass-enclosed lobby.

A high percentage of patients have prostate cancer, yet the patient age and type of cancer varies. Approximately 10 children are treated each day, as well as patients with sarcomas, head, neck and brain tumors, cancers of the lung and pancreas and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“Approximately 70 percent of our patients come from outside the Jacksonville area. We’ve had patients from 49 states and several foreign countries,” Stuart Klein, executive director of the UF Proton Therapy Institute, said.

For more information about the institute, visit www.floridaproton.org.