OKLAHOMA CITY -- The world's first inclined beam treatment room is open and treating patients at the ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Oklahoma City. The third of four treatment rooms at the Oklahoma Center is treating a wide range of tumors with proton therapy, an important alternative to X-ray radiation in treating cancer. The precision of proton therapy spares healthy tissue and results in far fewer short- and long-term treatment side effects. With three rooms now open and one more opening in the next few months, the Center is on its way to being able to provide the benefits of proton therapy to approximately 1,500 patients a year.

The newest treatment room is the first in the world to use inclined beam technology, a highly efficient and effective technological advance developed by scientists at ProCure Treatment Centers, Inc. The inclined beam technology is the first room to contain two treatment beams; one horizontal and one 60 degrees inclined from the horizontal. It can treat approximately 80 percent of the tumors that normally require the use of a gantry, the industry standard treatment room, but in a space about 50 percent of the size.

"We are committed to providing proton therapy to more patients and offering the best cancer care possible," said Sameer Keole, M.D., medical director of the Center and radiation oncologist at Radiation Medicine Associates (RMA), the radiation oncology practice that provides clinical care at the Center. "We are especially proud to have the world's first inclined beam room here in our facility. It is an important technological advance."
"ProCure is dedicated to improving proton therapy technology by making advances like the inclined beam technology available in our centers, as well as offering it to other centers that will be opening," said John Cameron, Ph.D., founder and president of ProCure and part of the inclined beam research and development team. "Our sole focus is on providing exceptional patient care."

The Oklahoma City Center opened in 2009 and is treating patients diagnosed with a broad range of tumor types including head and neck, brain, central nervous system, prostate, lung, sarcomas, gastrointestinal and many pediatric cancers. The precision of proton therapy makes it especially effective for treating anatomically complex tumors such base of skull and tumors along the spinal cord.

The Center has an affiliation with INTEGRIS Health, the state's largest hospital system. INTEGRIS's new, state-of-the art Cancer Institute of Oklahoma, located adjacent to the ProCure Proton Therapy Center, provides patients with additional medical services that they may need while undergoing proton therapy.

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