Proton Treatment Center
Wednesday, December 31, 1997
Mission
In accordance with the fundamental purpose of Loma Linda University and Loma Linda University Medical Center to make man whole, the Proton Treatment Center exists to provide highly precise proton radiation treatments for patients with a variety of cancers and other diseases. The Center was designed from the ground up to be dedicated to patient care and to the research necessary to advance that care; it opened in 1990 and was then the firstöand in 1997 was still the onlyösuch facility in the world to be based in a hospital environment.
Radiation oncologists at the Proton Treatment Center exploit the inherent dose-distribution advantages of high-energy proton beams to fashion treatment plans that deliver optimum therapeutic doses of radiation while minimizing the normal tissue exposure to such radiation, resulting in effective disease control and a reduced incidence of side effects. By the end of 1997, 3,090 patients had been treated. A growing list of publications testifies to the clinical efficacy of the modality.
1997 highlights
A major advance in cancer research occurred with the opening of the Cancer Research Institute for basic science investigations, housed in Chan Shun Pavilion.
The radiobiology division of the department continued to receive major funding from NASA ($5.5 million in 1997) to develop technology for studying the effects of cosmic and galactic radiation on space travelers, such as will occur with the up-coming trip to Mars. This laboratory at Loma Linda will be a major participant in these studies because of the capabilities of its proton facilities. Findings from the research will also be instrumental in improving patient treatment.
The U.S. Department of Energy provided $3 million to begin developing beam-scanning capability to improve accuracy and permit the beam to target large-field tumors such as those found in breast and lung cancer.
Significant research funding was contributed in 1997 by the Del E. Webb Cancer Research Endowment and the National Medical Technology Testbed. In addition, the Proton Charity Invitational Golf Tournament helped raise the Ken Venturi Proton Therapy Cancer Research Endowment to more than $1 million.
A record number of patients (760) were treated in the Center in 1997, bringing the number of patients treated since 1990 to more than 3,000. Over half of these patients were men with cancer of the prostate. By the end of the year nearly 100 patients were being treated every day. Sixty-three percent of the patients came from outside the usual Loma Linda University Medical Center referral region.
Plans for developing a housing facility near the hospital for patients and family members traveling from outside the region are nearly completed. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development contributed $2 million toward this project.
The department of radiation medicine participated in a joint study with Massachusetts General Hospital to evaluate the effectiveness of proton therapy for prostate cancer.
The department also participated in national research studies for conventional radiation treatment of cancers and other diseases of the head and neck, central nervous system, gastrointestinal system, lung, genitourinary system, and breast.
In-house research studies in 1997 included acoustic neuroma, arteriovenous malformation (AVM), brain metastases, non-small cell lung cancer, and subfoveal neovascularization.
Several engineering and research and development projects were designed and completed to increase efficiency of patient throughput. In one of the gantry treatment rooms the efficiency increased by 33 percent, helping increase overall facility patient capacity to 120 patients per day.
Journal articles on the results of proton therapy for prostate cancer and pediatric cranial tumors were published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology/Physics. Seventeen radiobiology papers and abstracts were published in a variety of journals, and a proton microdosimetry paper was published in Medical Physics.
The department obtained two new linear accelerators for use in conventional radiation therapy made necessary by the marked increase in patients coming to Loma Linda for treatment.
A meeting between department faculty members and scientists of the NASA Life Sciences Program was held at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to formulate plans for future research at the Loma Linda facility.
