MPRI treats its first patients

The future of cancer treatment arrived at Bloomington this week with the opening of the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute.\nThe MPRI began treating its first patient Wednesday, using an advanced form of radiation involving the acceleration of protons, which can kill tumors untreatable by conventional radiation.\nThe center is only the third of its kind in the entire United States, with similar technology in Loma Linda, Cali., and Boston, Mass. \nMark Long, president and CEO of the IU Advanced Research & Technology Institute which owns MPRI, said this radiotherapy institute "establishes IU as one of the major cancer treatment facilities in the United States."\n"Everything doesn't just happen in San Francisco and Boston anymore," he said. "Bloomington, Ind., is one of the key leaders in the treatment of cancer, particularly in children. That's kind of a big feather in the cap."\nThe MPRI is expecting their second patient sometime next week and should graduate up to treating roughly ten patients a day in the next three months, Long said. Once the facility is fully functional, it will be treating between 25 and 50 patients a day.\nBloomington was selected as the home for this new institute because of its cyclotron facility, which is home to accelerators large enough to produce the protons for this type of radiation therapy. Because IU already housed the accelerators, the project's cost, which normally costs over $100 million, was cut to about one third. \n"We've got people, not just from this country, but from around the world coming to Bloomington," IUCF Director John Cameron said. "We are very much on the cutting edge of radiation therapy."\nThe advantage of proton radiation therapy, as opposed to the more common X-ray therapy, comes in the number of healthy cells destroyed. Normal radiation therapy does three times more damage to healthy cells than it does to the tumor, Cameron said. With protons, however, three times more damage is done to the tumor than the healthy cells. This is particularly important to children with whom the radiation can stop bone growth and lead to deformity.\n"In a real and just world, all radiation therapy would be done with protons," Cameron said.\nAnother large factor in the success of the MPRI will be the construction of Jill's House, which will take in up to 20 patients at a time, completely free of charge. The home, named in recognition of IU student Jill Behrman, will allow cancer patients to get one another through their tough times, especially in regard to children, Jill's House President Peg Howard said. \n"It's very urgent that we get this house built," she said. "The fact that they are seeing patients now has a very big impact and should help as we go forth in funding because the need is very apparent."\nIn addition to helping hundreds of cancer patients, the MPRI will also open over 300 jobs in its field. The institute will present radiation physics and medical science graduate students with an experience attainable nearly nowhere else in the nation.\n"I think Bloomington is going to be very proud of this type of facility," Howard said. "This is a very caring and loving community, and I think it is a wonderful place for this type of facility to be built."\n-- Contact senior writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.