Cancer center may offer revolutionary treatment

Only one other U.S. medical center currently offers a proton treatment center, which will cost tens of millions of dollars. Proton therapy, a revolutionary but rarely used way to treat cancer with minimum side effects, will likely be a part of the University's proposed world-class cancer research and treatment center that stands to be built on much of the city-owned Civic Center site, according to Health System officials. As of 1997, there were only 16 facilities in the world offering such treatment, and just one other operating right now in U.S. clinical settings. An additional facility, in Boston, is scheduled for completion this spring. Proton therapy would join other options -- including chemotherapy, surgery and standard radiation therapy -- currently available to cancer patients, but since it carries fewer side effects and can be done on an outpatient basis, it may be preferable for many patients. But while officials confirmed that they have talked to a number of companies about the possibility of building a proton therapy center, the plans are still in preliminary stages and officials declined to comment on possible costs. "It's a new and exciting way of treating cancer and it would be great for Philadelphia since it's only offered in one or two other places in the entire country," Health System spokesperson Lori Doyle said. The proton treatment center would be built in the new consolidated cancer research and treatment center in the space currently occupied by the Philadelphia Civic Center -- which Penn announced plans to buy from the city last fall. It is estimated that the University will spend about $350 million to develop the site, with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia throwing in an additional $100 million. Officials have not yet announced where Penn's portion of the money will come from. The facility would become the third hospital to host a proton therapy center in the country -- joining the Proton Treatment Center at Loma Linda University Medical Center in southern California and the Northeast Proton Therapy Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. There are a number of other proton therapy facilities nationwide, but most of them are housed in government research facilities, without what experts say are the benefits of a clinical setting. "It's important to have it as part of a hospital environment with a full-fledged mix of treatment options," said Len Arzt, executive director of the National Association for Proton Therapy. A relatively unknown therapy that was first proposed in 1946 and has been especially useful in treating prostate cancer and cancers in the neck and head areas, proton therapy aims high-energy beams of positively-charged particles at the tumor site, destroying the tumor with little or no harm to the surrounding tissue. The positively-charged subatomic particles aimed at the tumor are attracted by the negatively-charged electrons that circle each atom in the diseased tissue. When the proton passes by electrons, it draws the negative particles out of their orbits -- essentially destroying the cancerous cells. And while standard X-ray radiation works on the same principle, proton therapy provides more precision and less damage to healthy tissue. If Penn's new cancer facility can provide this service, eligible patients should appreciate the painless, outpatient procedure with little or no side effects. But building the facility will not be easy -- a proton therapy treatment facility requires both space and money. For instance, Loma Linda's proton center, which opened in 1990, cost $60 million, and the Northeast Proton Center cost $46.1 million. Both received over $20 million from the federal government. And while space is also an issue for proton treatment -- Arzt said a facility must be at least three stories high, usually below ground, with thick concrete walls to protect the radiation from escaping -- Doyle said the 1.7 acres of land the Civic Center site contains should be sufficient. This land, slated for University and CHOP use in a bill passed by City Council at the end of last year, will enable Penn to consolidate its prestigious Cancer Center -- currently spread throughout 41 departments in eight University schools -- into one treatment and research center. Most of the land included in the deal -- except for where the parking lot stands to be built -- still must pass through another round of city approval before anything can be built on it. The cancer center itself will be a "phenomenal boost" for both the University and the city, mayoral spokesperson Kevin Feeley said. And if proton therapy does play a part in it, he said "that makes a great deal even better."