Cancer-Killing Proton Therapy Center Opening In MI
FLINT (WWJ)- Michigan cancer patients won't have to travel out-of-state any more for an accurate and effective therapy that treats the disease. The state's first cancer-killing Proton Therapy Center is on the horizon.
Dr. Alfred Smith is the lead consultant of McLaren Proton Therapy Center at Great Lakes Cancer Institute in Flint, which is expected to open late next year.
Smith said proton therapy is a type of radiation treatment that uses a beam of protons to deliver radiation directly to a cancerous tumor. Protons can be controlled to release their energy at the tumor site, meaning surrounding healthy tissue can be spared from damage.
"One can deliver a higher dose to the tumor and therefore eradicate the tumor more easily, and at the same time give a lower dose to normal tissue and prevent late effects and collateral damage to normal tissues, as one often sees with x-ray treatments," Smith said.
This will be Michigan's first cancer-killing proton therapy center.
"It affords the people in Michigan the opportunity to have access to a very valuable and very effective tool of cancer treatment," Smith said.
Proton therapy is an especially prefered form of radiation when treating areas near vital organs, such as the lungs, brain and esophagus.
To learn more about the McLaren Proton Therapy Center, click here.
