Local proton therapy center third in nation

Being diagnosed with cancer can come as a tremendous shock both to the victim and to the victim's family, but what is sometimes equally as tough is the prospect of treatment.\nThursday night IU's Cyclotron Facility, a physics research laboratory, hosted a dedication ceremony which marked the beginning of a new treatment room to help cancer patients through proton radiotherapy.\n"The goal of this facility is to take away the fear of cancer treatment," said James Slater, the chairman of the Department of Radiation Medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center.\nThe center is home to the world's first hospital-based proton treatment facility and remains only one of three such facilities available in the United States. The facility is the first of its kind in the Midwest.\nState representative John Hostettler called the facility a place of "healing and research." \nIU President Myles Brand said he is confident that it will have a positive effect on the local economy. In his address at the ceremony, Brand said the facility is expected to create 50 jobs when fully operational.\nSince the facility is one of only a few in the nation, it raises the question of why Bloomington was chosen.\n"The reason it's in Bloomington is because of the machine," said Allan Thornton, medical director of the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute, in reference to the Cyclotron Facility. "The location just happened to be good. It's got good transport routes and cheap accommodation."\nJill's House, which is currently under construction near the facility, will house patients and their families and aims to provide a "healing environment" for patients.\nProton therapy is still fairly new in terms of practical use. According to MPRI, 32,000 patients have been treated and half of those were in the United States. IU's Cyclotron Facility began testing an experimental proton therapy program ten years ago, under which 33 patients were treated over a period of several years. \nIn 1996, MPRI was founded and began carrying out clinical trials testing the effectiveness of proton therapy on choroidal neovascular membrane, a condition associated with deterioration of vision in elderly people. \n"Dose by dose it's no more effective," Thornton said of the treatment. "But the difference is that you can aim the (proton) beam better than conventional X-rays. You can also control how deep the beam penetrates the skin, which prevents damage to healthy tissue surrounding cancerous cells.\n"When all is said and done, this is the facility that will treat our families in the Midwest," he said. \nDr. John Cameron, the director of IU's Cyclotron Facility, said costs could reach $25 million.\nThe first treatment room is expected to be completed by spring of 2003 with two more planned by 2005. The facility plans to have the capacity to treat 1,000 patients per year by the time all three are operational.\n"It's a dream come true for people to get treatment for a life threatening disease and not feel much different than they were before," Cameron said.