South Jersey opens new proton therapy center
VOORHEES, N.J. (CBS) -- South Jersey now has the most advanced form of radiation treatment for cancer. The new proton therapy center opened Tuesday in Voorhees.
This is the first of its kind of treatment center in South Jersey and one of only about 50 in the United States. The therapy uses subatomic particles that might sound like science fiction but it's all about saving lives.
Inside the $45 million facility is a revolutionary kind of radiation.
The Penn Medicine Virtua Health's new Proton Therapy Center is where a cyclotron accelerates subatomic particles to about 450 million miles per hour.
"Once its approached that speed of light its delivered down the beamline," Virtua Health Dr. Graeme Williams said.
"The beam comes out of here and can rotate and treat the patient at many different angles." Virtua Health Dr. Catherine Kim said.
The protons are targeted to just the cancer with a fixed end point sparing nearby healthy tissue, to reduce complications and side effects.
"I'm amazed this is just one of the marvels of oncology," Kim said. "Our focus has also shifted not just improving surveil but improving their quality of life."
Proton therapy is especially helpful for sensitive cancers in hard-to-reach places.
"It's utterly remarkable," patient Deb Harris said.
Harris was treated with proton therapy at Penn. She had stage 4 brain cancer.
"This prolonged my life there's no doubt I would not be sitting here five years out from surgery with you if it hadn't been for the proton radiation," Harris said.
Research is still underway to determine if proton therapy is better than traditional radiation, but doctors say it provides an important additional option.
"It means as a radiation oncologist I really have no limitations in terms of what treatments I can offer the patient," Williams said.
Doctors say the high-energy proton beams are painless to the patients undergoing treatment.
The first Roberts Proton Therapy Center opened at Penn in 2010.