“Being one of the first patients at HUPTI has changed my outlook on life.” – Alfred Scott , One of HUPTI’s First Patients Proton therapy is regarded as the most precise form of cancer treatment available, as it targets and kills tumors with millimeter accuracy, while sparing surrounding healthy tissue, leaving the patient with minimal to no side effects, unlike conventional radiation therapy, which is especially important for growing pediatric patients. “We have over 100 years of actual clinical proton therapy experience [at HUPTI],” said Allan Thornton, MD, radiation oncologist, who has more than 19 years experience in proton therapy, having treated patients at Harvard 6 | Alumni Magazine of Hampton University
University (Massachusetts General Hospital) and the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI) in Indiana. According to Thornton, “the physical characteristics of proton beam delivery allow us to target the tumor and conform the beam with greater avoidance to normal tissue than with conventional x-ray radiation (IMRT/photons).” HUPTI is expected to treat approximately 2,000 patients per year with prostate, breast, brain, lung, ocular and pediatric cancers. HUPTI’s 200-ton cyclotron originates and spins the protons at 60 percent of the speed of light, sending the resulting beam down a beam line to the treatment room. The actual treatment of protons lasts a mere 60 seconds. Patients are treated five days a week, for five to ten weeks.