Mevion Medical System has secured a contract to supply Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (U of U) MEVION S250i proton therapy system with HYPERSCAN Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS) technology.
Image: Mevion Proton Therapy System. Courtesy of Photo: Business Wire.
U of U professor radiation oncology chair and HCI radiation oncologist Dennis Shrieve said: “The proton therapy center at HCI will bring yet another unique, technically advanced radiation oncology solution to HCI and the patients our cancer experts serve in the Mountain West.”
Proton therapy is a precise form of radiation therapy that can reduce the amount of unnecessary radiation exposure to healthy tissue. This benefit has the potential to reduce side effects, escalate dose, and lessen the risk of secondary malignancies, which can be particularly important in pediatric cases.
However, the size and cost of older proton technologies has been a major impediment to the adoption of proton therapy. Mevion has taken a different approach to the design of proton therapy systems, which overcomes the practical challenges of earlier technology and results in a much more compact, affordable solution.
At HCI, the proton center is being built in a small available space immediately adjacent to the existing radiation therapy operation, which allows for significant efficiencies and economies of scale. HCI’s plans include the option to incorporate a second vault at a future date, which is only possible because of the compact nature of the Mevion solution.
The U of U professor and division of medical physics chief and HCI radiation oncology director Bill Salter said: “At HCI we have been closely following the evolution of proton technology for over a decade. Proton therapy has benefitted from significant recent technological advances and it is an exciting time to add this to our array of radiation therapy technology and expertise at our cancer center.”
The system at HCI will be equipped with Mevion’s HYPERSCAN Pencil Beam Scanning delivery system. This technology improves on older scanning technologies particularly due to Mevion’s Adaptive Aperture, a novel proton multi-leaf collimator (pMLC), which gives clinicians the most conformal treatments.
Mevion Medical Systems CEO Tina Yu said: “Mevion is proud to partner with the prestigious Huntsman Cancer Institute to open the first proton therapy center in Utah.
“Our mission is to make proton therapy accessible to all cancer patients, so we are excited that patients and their families in Utah and the surrounding Mountain West region will no longer be forced to travel long distances in order to receive this advanced treatment.”
The proton therapy center at HCI is scheduled to open to patients in late 2020.
Uptick in Global Adoption
In addition to Huntsman Cancer Institute, the MEVION S250i system continues to be the system of choice for leading cancer centers. Two more HYPERSCAN centers are in the final stages of installation and will be treating patients by the end of this year.
An additional two centers are in the construction planning phase, both of which are instances of existing sites adding a second Mevion system after the successful ramp up of their first system.
Source: Company Press Release