LITTLETON, MA, 31 October 2011 – Mevion Medical Systems announced today it has delivered the world's first superconducting synchrocyclotron to the S. Lee Kling Center for Proton Therapy at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis MO. This inaugural shipment marks the last phase of the manufacturing of the first MEVION S250 proton accelerator module and the first of many to come deliveries of this revolutionary cancer therapy device.
The synchrocyclotron was delivered after a 1,200 mile, 4-day trip from Mevion's Headquarters in Littleton MA to St. Louis MO. "It was a very rewarding day to see our first system leave our factory knowing that what we have achieved may affect and improve the lives of cancer patients," stated Joseph K. Jachinowski, chief executive officer of Mevion Medical Systems. "The innovative design of the MEVION S250 makes adding proton therapy remarkably easier for our hospital partners than what was previously available."
Powered by a TriNiobium Core™, the high-energy proton source of the MEVION S250 will preserve all of the treatment benefits of conventional proton treatment systems while removing the obstacles of size, cost and complexity that have limited the wide adoption of this promising cancer treatment modality. The MEVION S250 Proton Therapy System combines a patented, gantry-mounted proton source with a highly integrated, image-based workflow and robotic patient positioning, making proton therapy a practical clinical reality.
Similar to traditional radiation therapy systems in terms of footprint, workflow, and throughput, the MEVION S250 will easily integrate within existing radiation therapy departments to deliver innovative cancer care in a very conventional way. "Barnes Jewish Hospital prides itself in providing the most advanced technologies to its patients. We are delighted to add this latest development in radiation therapy to our cancer-fighting arsenal," says Jeff Bradley, MD, director of the S. Lee Kling Center for Proton Therapy at Siteman Cancer Center.
This installation of the MEVION S250 at Barnes Jewish Hospital is to be completed early next year. Two additional facilities are also in the midst of installation; Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ and Oklahoma University inOklahoma City, OK. Both of these installations are also to be completed in 2012.
ABOUT MEVION MEDICAL SYSTEMS
Mevion Medical Systems, Inc. (formerly Still River Systems, Inc.) is a radiation therapy company dedicated to advancing the treatment of cancer. As the pioneering developer of modern proton therapy systems, Mevion provides innovative, safe, and effective solutions by transforming advances in medical technology and science into practical clinical reality. Mevion's flagship product, the MEVION S250 Proton Therapy System, is designed to preserve all of the treatment benefits of traditional proton therapy systems while removing the obstacles of size, cost, and complexity. Realizing this vision, Mevion has forever changed the economics and accessibility of proton therapy worldwide.
Founded in 2004, Mevion is a privately held company headquartered in the Boston metropolitan area with international offices in the United Kingdom and Japan.
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November 12, 2011
San Diego's first cyclotron installed at Scripps Proton Therapy Center
SAN DIEGO, CA, 28 October 2011 - Cancer care in San Diego County took a major step forward today with the start of installation of the region’s first cyclotron - a remarkable piece of medical equipment that will be the driving force behind the Scripps Proton Therapy Center, and one of only a small handful of such proton therapy medical devices and delivery systems in the United States.
Manufactured by Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, Calif., the 90-ton cyclotron is about the same weight as a fully loaded 737 jetliner, but just 6 feet high and 9 feet wide. The cyclotron’s job is to accelerate protons to extremely fast speeds - roughly 100,000 miles per second or 0.61 times the speed of light - to create a beam that can precisely reach tumors, even if deeply seated and located near critical organs. These beams can also be shaped in three dimensions to avoid surrounding healthy tissues, targeting tumors with unprecedented accuracy.
Made predominantly of extremely pure iron to optimize magnetic power, the cyclotron uses water and electricity to create a plasma stream, from which protons are extracted. Protons are then accelerated by the magnetic energy between the upper and lower halves of the cyclotron - the force of which is equivalent to 200 tons. The protons are then sent through a beam transport system using a series of electromagnets to steer the beams for delivery to patient treatment rooms.
Construction on the 102,000-square-foot center began in October 2010, and is expected to be open for patient care by spring 2013. The Scripps Proton Therapy Center will have the capacity to treat approximately 2,400 patients annually. It is being built on a 7-acre site in the Carroll Canyon area of Mira Mesa, at 9577 Summers Ridge Road.
There are currently nine proton therapy patient treatment centers operating in the U.S., and just one west of the Rockies. They are located in Loma Linda, Calif. (opened 1991); Boston, Mass. (opened 2002); Bloomington, Ind. (opened 2004); Houston, Texas (opened 2006); Jacksonville, Fla. (opened 2006); Oklahoma City, Okla. (opened 2009); Philadelphia, Penn. (opened 2010); Hampton, Va. (opened 2010); and Warrenville, Ill. (opened 2010).
The cyclotron has taken an extraordinary journey from inception to installation in San Diego. It was manufactured and tested in Troisdorf, Germany over a 20-month period by a team of about three dozen engineers, physicists, electricians, welders and others with specialized expertise. It was then shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, through the Panama Canal and into Port Hueneme, just north of Los Angeles. From there it was transported via two specialized 200-foot-long, 19-axel trailers, to evenly distribute the exceptionally heavy load.
After arriving at the Scripps Proton Therapy Center, the cyclotron will be lifted in two separate sections, using a specially designed crane that is usually deployed to move heavy industrial equipment weighing up to 1,000 tons. During the course of two straight workdays, the cyclotron will be painstakingly aligned into place, due largely to the sub-millimeter accuracy required of its placement.
Following the cyclotron’s installation, the beam transport system and other equipment will be installed in patient treatment rooms. Meanwhile, the cyclotron will undergo testing to meet various acceptance criteria under the guidance of a team of engineers, physicists, software engineers and other experts.
Scripps Proton Therapy Center will include five treatment rooms, three of which will include gantries, which are three-story, 360-degree rotational machines designed to deliver the therapeutic beam at the precise angle prescribed by the physician. Each gantry weighs 280 tons. The other two treatment rooms will have fixed-beam machines. The center will also offer MRI, CT and PET/CT imaging services in support of proton therapy; 16 patient exam rooms; and offices for 14 physicians.
The facility is being developed by Advanced Particle Therapy (APT), LLC of San Diego and will be operated by Scripps Health and Scripps Clinic Medical Group. Scripps Health will provide clinical management services to the center and Scripps Clinic Medical Group will oversee the medical services. APT has arranged the financing to build the center and purchase the proton therapy equipment from Varian Medical Systems. Additionally, APT will manage and maintain the building and equipment. The architect and general contractor for the center is The Haskell Company of Jacksonville, Fla., one of the nation’s leading design-builders of health care facilities.
For certain cancers, proton therapy offers a more precise and aggressive approach to destroying cancerous and non-cancerous tumors, compared to conventional X-ray radiation. Proton therapy involves the use of a controlled beam of protons to target tumors with control and precision unavailable in other radiation therapies. The precise delivery of proton energy limits damage to healthy surrounding tissue and allows for a more potent and effective dose of radiation to be used.
Patients will be able to access this treatment through a referral to a specialist credentialed by the Scripps Proton Therapy Center. Proton therapy has an established history of reimbursement by Medicare and private health care payers.
A non-invasive treatment, proton beam therapy is usually performed on an outpatient basis and is considered most effective on solid, deep-seated tumors that are localized and have not spread to distant areas of the body.
Varian will equip the facility with a fully integrated ProBeam proton therapy system. The center’s superconducting cyclotron will feature pencil-beam (or spot) scanning, which allows for modulation of the proton beam’s intensity. This allows doctors to precisely shape the dose distribution to concentrate on the targeted tumor while minimizing exposure of normal healthy tissue.
Nearly 80,000 people worldwide have received proton therapy at centers in Europe, Asia and the United States. Patients typically receive approximately 30 treatments during a four- to six-week period. Each treatment lasts for approximately 15-25 minutes, after which the patient is free to carry on with daily affairs.
In addition to providing patient care, Scripps expects to be at the forefront of new and developing clinical applications as part of its proton practice and connection with other national centers.
Radiation generated by the proton therapy system will be contained by installing the equipment in a bunker with concrete up to 15 feet thick. Two completely independent monitoring systems are also being installed to ensure safe operation. A personnel protection system (PPS) will monitor the safety of individuals inside the facility. Additional radiation monitors are being installed outside the facility to prevent environmental exposure.
About Scripps Cancer Center
With more than 300 affiliated physicians, Scripps Cancer Center is a nationally recognized leader in cancer care, providing comprehensive care at its four hospitals and various Scripps Clinic locations. Scripps Cancer Center seeks to provide the best possible treatment and cutting-edge research trials for patients by coordinating medical expertise in the areas of clinical cancer care, community outreach and clinical, translational and basic research. Scripps is the only cancer care provider in San Diego to earn network accreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer.
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Manufactured by Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, Calif., the 90-ton cyclotron is about the same weight as a fully loaded 737 jetliner, but just 6 feet high and 9 feet wide. The cyclotron’s job is to accelerate protons to extremely fast speeds - roughly 100,000 miles per second or 0.61 times the speed of light - to create a beam that can precisely reach tumors, even if deeply seated and located near critical organs. These beams can also be shaped in three dimensions to avoid surrounding healthy tissues, targeting tumors with unprecedented accuracy.
Made predominantly of extremely pure iron to optimize magnetic power, the cyclotron uses water and electricity to create a plasma stream, from which protons are extracted. Protons are then accelerated by the magnetic energy between the upper and lower halves of the cyclotron - the force of which is equivalent to 200 tons. The protons are then sent through a beam transport system using a series of electromagnets to steer the beams for delivery to patient treatment rooms.
Construction on the 102,000-square-foot center began in October 2010, and is expected to be open for patient care by spring 2013. The Scripps Proton Therapy Center will have the capacity to treat approximately 2,400 patients annually. It is being built on a 7-acre site in the Carroll Canyon area of Mira Mesa, at 9577 Summers Ridge Road.
There are currently nine proton therapy patient treatment centers operating in the U.S., and just one west of the Rockies. They are located in Loma Linda, Calif. (opened 1991); Boston, Mass. (opened 2002); Bloomington, Ind. (opened 2004); Houston, Texas (opened 2006); Jacksonville, Fla. (opened 2006); Oklahoma City, Okla. (opened 2009); Philadelphia, Penn. (opened 2010); Hampton, Va. (opened 2010); and Warrenville, Ill. (opened 2010).
The cyclotron has taken an extraordinary journey from inception to installation in San Diego. It was manufactured and tested in Troisdorf, Germany over a 20-month period by a team of about three dozen engineers, physicists, electricians, welders and others with specialized expertise. It was then shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, through the Panama Canal and into Port Hueneme, just north of Los Angeles. From there it was transported via two specialized 200-foot-long, 19-axel trailers, to evenly distribute the exceptionally heavy load.
After arriving at the Scripps Proton Therapy Center, the cyclotron will be lifted in two separate sections, using a specially designed crane that is usually deployed to move heavy industrial equipment weighing up to 1,000 tons. During the course of two straight workdays, the cyclotron will be painstakingly aligned into place, due largely to the sub-millimeter accuracy required of its placement.
Following the cyclotron’s installation, the beam transport system and other equipment will be installed in patient treatment rooms. Meanwhile, the cyclotron will undergo testing to meet various acceptance criteria under the guidance of a team of engineers, physicists, software engineers and other experts.
Scripps Proton Therapy Center will include five treatment rooms, three of which will include gantries, which are three-story, 360-degree rotational machines designed to deliver the therapeutic beam at the precise angle prescribed by the physician. Each gantry weighs 280 tons. The other two treatment rooms will have fixed-beam machines. The center will also offer MRI, CT and PET/CT imaging services in support of proton therapy; 16 patient exam rooms; and offices for 14 physicians.
The facility is being developed by Advanced Particle Therapy (APT), LLC of San Diego and will be operated by Scripps Health and Scripps Clinic Medical Group. Scripps Health will provide clinical management services to the center and Scripps Clinic Medical Group will oversee the medical services. APT has arranged the financing to build the center and purchase the proton therapy equipment from Varian Medical Systems. Additionally, APT will manage and maintain the building and equipment. The architect and general contractor for the center is The Haskell Company of Jacksonville, Fla., one of the nation’s leading design-builders of health care facilities.
For certain cancers, proton therapy offers a more precise and aggressive approach to destroying cancerous and non-cancerous tumors, compared to conventional X-ray radiation. Proton therapy involves the use of a controlled beam of protons to target tumors with control and precision unavailable in other radiation therapies. The precise delivery of proton energy limits damage to healthy surrounding tissue and allows for a more potent and effective dose of radiation to be used.
Patients will be able to access this treatment through a referral to a specialist credentialed by the Scripps Proton Therapy Center. Proton therapy has an established history of reimbursement by Medicare and private health care payers.
A non-invasive treatment, proton beam therapy is usually performed on an outpatient basis and is considered most effective on solid, deep-seated tumors that are localized and have not spread to distant areas of the body.
Varian will equip the facility with a fully integrated ProBeam proton therapy system. The center’s superconducting cyclotron will feature pencil-beam (or spot) scanning, which allows for modulation of the proton beam’s intensity. This allows doctors to precisely shape the dose distribution to concentrate on the targeted tumor while minimizing exposure of normal healthy tissue.
Nearly 80,000 people worldwide have received proton therapy at centers in Europe, Asia and the United States. Patients typically receive approximately 30 treatments during a four- to six-week period. Each treatment lasts for approximately 15-25 minutes, after which the patient is free to carry on with daily affairs.
In addition to providing patient care, Scripps expects to be at the forefront of new and developing clinical applications as part of its proton practice and connection with other national centers.
Radiation generated by the proton therapy system will be contained by installing the equipment in a bunker with concrete up to 15 feet thick. Two completely independent monitoring systems are also being installed to ensure safe operation. A personnel protection system (PPS) will monitor the safety of individuals inside the facility. Additional radiation monitors are being installed outside the facility to prevent environmental exposure.
About Scripps Cancer Center
With more than 300 affiliated physicians, Scripps Cancer Center is a nationally recognized leader in cancer care, providing comprehensive care at its four hospitals and various Scripps Clinic locations. Scripps Cancer Center seeks to provide the best possible treatment and cutting-edge research trials for patients by coordinating medical expertise in the areas of clinical cancer care, community outreach and clinical, translational and basic research. Scripps is the only cancer care provider in San Diego to earn network accreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer.
©
IBA awarded second proton therapy contract by Polish Academy of Sciences
Nov 10, 2011
LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE, BELGIUM, 9 November 2011 – IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) announces today that the Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ) awarded to IBA the supply of the extension of the IFJ Proton Therapy Center, Krakow, Poland.
This agreement for the second phase of development of the PT center amounts to between 15 and 20 million Euros. It includes a gantry treatment room and associated building. The building work will be subcontracted by IBA to a major European building contractor. In 2010, IBA was awarded the first phase of this project which included the supply of a cyclotron and associated equipment.
The gantry treatment room will allow IFJ to treat patients using a state-of-the-art radiation delivery technique called Pencil Beam Scanning (“PBS”). This advanced treatment method allows physicians to precisely “paint the targeted cells”, in 3-D, with the treatment beam, thus further optimizing the targeting of the tumor while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue. The aim remains the limitation of the short term side effects of the treatment and the preservation of the quality of life of patients over the long term.
“Thanks to the agreement concluded today between the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences and IBA S.A., the first proton therapy center equipped with a modern Gantry Treatment Room and a scanning beam will be built in Poland. It is a very important day in the Institute’s history as well as a breakthrough in cancer treatment in Poland. We evaluate the effects of our cooperation with the company IBA as very successful. As a result, the Cyclotron Center Bronowice in the Institute will become an important center for research in physics, medicine and related sciences by 2014” said Prof. Marek Jezabek, Director General of the IFJ.
“The award of this tender confirms IBA’s position as a leading expert and a trusted partner for the development and delivery of Proton Therapy treatment facilities around the world. We are honored to partner again with the prestigious Polish Academy of Sciences and help them to advance cancer treatment in Poland” said Pierre Mottet, Chief Executive Officer of IBA.
The IFJ PT center will be IBA’s 5th clinical proton therapy center in Europe. Worldwide, 21 proton therapy centers have chosen IBA for the supply of the treatment equipment; this represents over half of the clinicalbased proton therapy facilities in the world.\
ABOUT IBA
IBA develops and markets leading-edge technologies, pharmaceuticals and tailor-made solutions for healthcare with a focus on cancer diagnosis and therapy. Leveraging on its scientific expertise, IBA is also active in the field of industrial sterilization and ionization.
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