A medical center has received a 120-ton component of a cyclotron to assist in the treatment of cancer.
The machine splits the atom and accelerates cancer-fighting protons to nearly the speed of light.
The cyclotron traveled 5,700 miles across the Atlantic Ocean by ship and then 500 miles over three days from Houston to Oklahoma City on a specially built 11-axle tractor-trailer before arriving at the ProCure Treatment Center.
A second, slightly lighter piece of the cyclotron will be trucked to Oklahoma City in the next couple of weeks, where it will be assembled before undergoing calibration and testing in anticipation of a summer 2009 opening of the ProCure Treatment Center.
After the center opens, 1,300 cancer patients are expected to be treated there annually with radioactive protons delivered in precise doses to kill tumors.
"We're very excited about this arrival," said Ed Bertels, executive director of ProCure Oklahoma. "It marks a milestone in the completion of the first community-based proton center. "There are only five centers in the United States that provide proton therapy, and Oklahoma will be the sixth."
Dr. Gary Larson, a radiation oncologist and partner in Radiation Medicine Associations, an Oklahoma City-based medical partner in the ProCure venture, said the arrival of the cyclotron represents a milestone for physicians who treat cancer patients.
"As residents of radiation oncology, we all learned about proton beam radiation therapy, but I never thought I would have the opportunity to use it as a tool in treating patients with cancer during my lifetime," Larson said. "It's real exciting. It's still a little hard to believe that we will actually be able to use protons."
Larson said about 250,000 cancer patients nationwide would benefit from proton therapy, but only about 6,000 actually receive treatment because of limited resources he said.
Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
