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David Stanley Ford

OSU, cancer center join to train medical physicists

BY JIM STAFFORD    Comments Comment on this article3
Published: October 30, 2008


Niek Schreuder gives a tour of the new ProCure proton treatment . PHOTO BY JACONNA AGUIRRE, THE OKLAHOMAN

Oklahoma State University and ProCure Treatment Centers announced an agreement Wednesday in which OSU will educate medical physicists for proton treatment centers in Oklahoma City and nationwide.

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Precise beams of particles used in proton therapy treatments

Proton therapy is a type of particle therapy that uses a precise beam of protons to irradiate a tumor site. Protons are large particles that can be manipulated to release their energy. The more energy, the deeper the protons can penetrate the body. Physicians can calculate the precise amount of proton energy needed to release radiation exactly at the tumor site. Less radiation reaches the healthy tissue on the front of the tumor, and virtually none of it reaches the healthy tissue behind the tumor. That means less damage to healthy tissue.

Potential patient demand for the use of proton therapy
→There are 1.4 million new cancer cases each year, according to the American Cancer Society

→About 60 percent (840,000) of new cancer patients annually will seek radiation therapy at some point during care.

→About 30 percent of the radiation patients — 250,000 — are patients who would benefit from proton therapy.

→Today’s five operating proton treatment centers can treat an estimate 6,000 patients annually.

Source: ProCure Treatment Centers, www.procure.com

The deal involves annual scholarship support for OSU from ProCure and the establishment at the university of a proton therapy-focused medical physicist program.

The collaboration was announced by ProCure and OSU officials at the ProCure Treatment Center under construction at 5901 W Memorial Road in northwest Oklahoma City.

The proton treatment center is scheduled to open next summer and is expected to treat up to 1,500 patients annually when at full capacity.

"This country needs medical physicists like never before,” said Stephen McKeever, OSU’s vice president for research and technology transfer. "We’re on the verge here of a revolution in cancer treatment.”

How big is demand?
The Oklahoma City proton treatment center will employ eight medical physicists, at least four of whom must be board certified, said Niek Schreuder, ProCure’s senior vice president of medical physics and technology.

OSU’s medical physics program will be directed by assistant professor Eric Benton.

The university hopes to earn accreditation for its medical physics program within five years, McKeever said.

"The real importance of establishing this program is that it will be uniquely focused on proton therapy,” he said.

How OSU will help
OSU President Burns Hargis pledged that the university would commit the resources to build the medical physics program.

"The opportunity to provide professionals to help cure cancer is an extraordinary opportunity and a great part of our mission at OSU,” Hargis said.

"We hope we’ll be educating physicists for more than just this facility. We hope to send them all over the United States.”

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David Stanley Ford


Related Topics: Science and Technology, Health and Fitness, Sciences, Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery, Physics, Atomic and Molecular Physics


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Oklahoma , a day late and a dollar short as always ...
mister, bogata - Oct 31, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I do not agree with your comment at all. I believe that it's great that we are getting some cutting edge technology that no one else in the state has, including OU. There are numerous cancer centers throughout our great state as well. Also, how many heart hospitals do we have? Several hospitals have heart hospitals not just one. This new center will not only treat patients at Integris but all cancer patients from any hospital can access this new proton technology. My grandfather had to travel to MD Anderson to access proton therapy and it greatly enhanced his life. ProCure is bringing something for many cancer patients access that no one else in the state can offer them. I'm proud that Oklahoma has the opportunity to gain such great medical advancement.
Joseph, oklahoma city - Oct 30, 2008 at 11:09 am
To say Procure is a cancer center is a gross overstatement. This is nothing more than another attempt at a specialty hospital focused on a single, profitable area versus what's right for the patient as a whole. We already have a state-sponsored, comprehensive Cancer Institute at OU paid for with our tax dollars. Now Integris is going to try and lure patients to their center with fancy ads and glitzy promises. We need some serious healthcare reform in OK to do away with physician-owned hospitals.
Tim, Oklahoma City - Oct 30, 2008 at 10:39 am
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