SCCA Proton Therapy, A ProCure Center

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, together with ProCure Treatment Centers Inc., broke ground in Spring 2011 on a new Proton Therapy Center in north Seattle that will provide a first-of-its-kind treatment option for cancer patients throughout the Northwest.

Scheduled to open in 2013 on the campus of Northwest Hospital & Medical Center, the 60,000-square-foot facility will be among only a handful of centers in the nation to offer proton therapy.

What is Proton Therapy?

"Proton radiotherapy is the most precise form of radiotherapy available today and will improve the outcomes for a large number of cancer patients.” -- George Laramore, PhD, MD, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Washington and medical director of SCCA Proton Therapy, A ProCure Center.

Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation treatment and an important alternative to standard X-ray radiation for many types of cancer and some non-cancerous tumors. Currently available at only nine centers in the United States, proton therapy is beneficial in treating a broad range of tumors, including those of the brain, central nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, head and neck, lung and prostate, as well as sarcomas and many pediatric cancers.

While proton and X-ray therapy both kill cancer cells by preventing them from dividing and growing, the difference between the two is that protons can be controlled more precisely than X-rays. Proton beams deposit the greatest amount of radiation right into the tumor and then stop, which allows patients to receive higher doses with less damage to nearby healthy tissue. In contrast, X-ray radiation releases substantial doses of energy quickly after penetrating the skin, which can damage healthy tissue and organs on the way to the tumor.

Good Treatment for Childhood Cancers

The precision of proton therapy makes it especially effective for treating children and adults with anatomically complex tumors, such as those at the base of the skull and along the spinal cord. Patients who receive proton therapy generally experience fewer side effects compared to those who undergo traditional X-ray-based radiation therapy.

Since children’s bodies are still growing, children are more sensitive to damage to healthy tissue caused by radiation. They can experience more serious short- and long-term side effects from X-ray radiation. Studies show that using proton therapy to treat pediatric tumors provides excellent results in controlling tumors, reducing damage to healthy tissue, and lowering risks of tumors returning later in life.

“Proton therapy has emerged as a compelling treatment for adults and children with cancer and other tumors. Prior to the development of this center, patients would have to travel hundreds of miles to receive this precise, live-saving treatment. It’s also fitting that this groundbreaking launches the SCCA’s second decade of treating patients from the Northwest and beyond,” says Norm Hubbard, executive vice president of SCCA.

Like other clinical programs at SCCA, the proton center is expected to attract patients nationally and internationally. SCCA Proton Therapy, A ProCure Center expects to treat about 1,400 proton therapy patients annually.

The Seattle facility is the fourth in the ProCure network, which includes centers in Oklahoma City (opened in 2009), suburban Chicago (opened in 2010) and Somerset, N.J., which serves the metro New York area (opening 2012). ProCure is the only healthcare company in the world that has developed and is operating multiple proton centers.