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Texas Center for Proton Therapy treats first patient with pencil beam and cone beam CT combo
Ultra-fine proton beam leads to improved patient outcome Courtesy: IBA
The Texas Center for Proton Therapy has become the first facility in North America to treat a patient by combining advanced pencil beam proton therapy with iscocentric cone beam CT during treatment. The facility utilizes a 360 degree ProteusPLUS gantry from IBA.
Cone beam CT is a 3-D X-ray imaging system that provides higher contrast images than 2-D imaging. It enables the physician to see soft tissue contrast as well as bone anatomy contrast. That allows them to visualize anatomy and tumor changes within a patient — such as weight loss, tumor shrinkage, or for head and neck cases, liquid in the sinus — over the course of the treatment.
With pencil beam scanning, a proton beam delivers radiation to the target with minimal radiation exposure to normal tissue.
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The patient had a lung tumor, Dr. Andrew K. Lee, medical director at Texas Center for Proton Therapy, told HCB News, and required precise targeting before each treatment. “Using cone-beam CT (CBCT) on a full-size pencil-beam gantry was an exciting process and represented a milestone for proton therapy in the U.S.," said Dr. Lee.
In the video below, Dr. Lee explains the benefits of pencil beam scanning.
The ProteusPLUS at the Texas Center for Proton Therapy is a multi-room installation and has been in clinical use since November of 2015, when the center treated its first patients with the 220 ton cyclotron, according to Dallas/Fort Worth Healthcare Daily. Patients have been going to the imaging suites for months to prepare for treatment, but center officials did not reveal how many patients received treatment.
In 2014, approximately 116,000 Texans were diagnosed with cancer, reported Dallas/Fort Worth Daily, and Lee predicts that demand for proton therapy may surpass the availability of it. He hopes to make proton therapy accessible to a larger group of cancer patients.
Inside the center are two isocentric gantry treatment rooms, each with a 30-foot tall, 110-ton machine that rotates to enable accuracy in treating tumors, and PET/CT imaging and MRI technology.
Currently there are only two proton therapy centers in Texas, Texas Center for Proton Therapy being one of them, and MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Proton Center. Dallas Proton Treatment Center was scheduled to open in 2017, though they have since filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
"Texas Center for Proton Therapy was the first center in North America to combine both of these technologies on a 360-degree pencil-beam gantry to treat a patient, and we feel proud and fortunate to be have these tools to better serve our patients," Dr. Lee said. "These technologies are especially important for patients with tumors of the brain, head and neck, spine, lung, and upper abdomen such as the liver," he added.
