From the March 2022 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

For esophageal cancer, the trial will assess the benefits of proton therapy in a trimodality treatment of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery. This strategy will compare the clinical outcomes of PT and state-of-the-art photon radiotherapy for locally advanced esophageal cancer. The aim is to produce data that can help form European guidelines on the use of PT for the disease, which has a relatively high occurrence rate and requires complex multi-modality treatment. It also has significant morbidity.

Mayo Clinic invests $200 million in proton therapy expansion
Mayo Clinic announced in August it is putting forth $200 million for a 110,000 square-foot expansion of its proton therapy program in Rochester.
With a planned opening in 2025, the extension is expected to free up space for 900 more patients annually and create 117 new jobs. It will include two new treatment rooms with in-room imaging and pencil beam scanning.

"We have experienced increasing demand for proton therapy despite incorporating efficiencies in treatment and delivery, scheduling and fractionation. We anticipate that the need and indications for proton therapy will continue to increase, especially for the complex patient cohorts we see at Mayo Clinic,” Dr. Nadia Laack, chair of the department of radiation oncology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, told HCB News.

Pencil beam scanning makes targeting and delivering proton therapy to tumors more precise and with lower doses, which reduces toxicity and negative side effects. The expansion will also include state-of-the-art in-room X-ray and CT-imaging, as well as additional imaging resources for precise radiation planning, including MR and other advanced imaging systems for tumor localization.

Site preparation is expected to begin in November and includes relocation of utility tunnels and pedestrian subways. Building construction is scheduled to start in late 2022. The work will not interfere with current proton therapy services.

"Our plan also includes the opportunity to incorporate technical upgrades as they become available in both new and existing facilities in the future,” said Laack.

Superconducting 'bending magnet' could slash proton therapy cost, footprint
A new magnet designed by Japanese researchers could someday dramatically reduce the footprint of proton therapy systems and make them less expensive.

B dot Medical, a startup focused on developing an ultra-compact proton therapy system, revealed in June it had designed a superconducting bending magnet that is capable of generating a high magnetic field. The system consists of a proprietary “non-rotating gantry” that is made possible by combining technology to bend the proton beam and technology for optimizing the magnetic field shape.

March 2022 Magazine

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