On July 16, The U.S. News and World Report hit newsstands with its
annual “Best Hospitals” issue. The Moores Cancer Center, along with
five other specialty centers at UCSD Medical Center, ranked as one of
the best medical facilities in the country — and with its advanced
treatment for patients and continually groundbreaking reseaSTUDENT CENTERS AND HEALTH — On July 16, The U.S. News and World Report
hit newsstands with its annual “Best Hospitals” issue. The Moores
Cancer Center, along with five other specialty centers at UCSD Medical
Center, ranked as one of the best medical facilities in the country —
and with its advanced treatment for patients and continually
groundbreaking research, it’s easy to see why.
Recently,
the Moores Center has been making plans that will likely boost its
position even farther up the ranks as one of the best cancer treatment
centers in the nation, as the UCSD Medical Center is making plans to
establish a center for proton and particle therapy to treat their
future cancer patients. Unfortunately, the estimated cost of building
such a facility isn’t cheap. Including technology costs, the price tag
for a proton therapy center typically exceeds $125 million, which
raises issues as to whether the endeavor would be a good use of
university funds.
Currently, UCSD is developing a model for a collaborative venture with
private parties who would help finance and construct the new cancer
center building, which, when completed, is planned to include
additional floors of laboratory space devoted to cancer research.
So, would spending such a great deal of money on this innovative cancer
technology be a valuable investment for UCSD Medical Center? Judging
from recent reports on proton therapy, having such technology available
at the Medical Center would be incredibly beneficial for UCSD and its
potential patients seeking cancer treatment as well.
Proton therapy, for those unfamiliar with the process, is a type of
external beam radiotherapy in which positively-charged particles from
atoms are directed at lesions and tumors, strategically destroying
cancerous cells. Typically, surgery or a different type of
radiotherapy, called x-ray therapy, is used to treat cancer patients;
however, proton therapy has a greater advantage in effectively treating
cancer in comparison to these typical methods.
Having proton therapy available as a potentially safer and more precise
cancer treatment would likely attract many patients seeking an
alternative to conventional cancer treatments and therapies. The main
advantage of proton therapy over surgery and x-ray radiation therapy is
that protons have a less harmful impact on tissue surrounding tumors,
while still destroying cancer on a microscopic level. Unlike x-rays,
protons deposit a substantially smaller amount of energy into the body,
specifically targeting cancerous tumors and avoiding extensive
radioactive damage to healthy cells in the body. In this way, proton
therapy can reduce complications and improve the quality of life for
patients who undergo this treatment.
According to UCSD researchers, proton therapy is especially effective
in treating cancers of the eye, brain, head, neck, lung and prostate.
Specifically, proton therapy has been gaining a reputation in the field
of pediatrics, which the cancer center plans to specialize in, if it is
approved. Children can benefit significantly from proton therapy
because the lower radiation dosage to healthy tissues is significantly
reduced in children, also scaling back adverse effects on growth and
development, a typical side-affect of other cancer treatments.
Of course, this good news for cancer patients also benefits the Moores
Center and the UCSD Medical Center as a whole. If the Medical Center
completes its plans for proton therapy facilities, UCSD Medical Center
would be at the forefront of this innovative cancer treatment
technology. Only a handful of today’s hospitals throughout the world
offer proton treatment, though it is rapidly gaining popularity.
Since the center will be a facility for both cancer treatment and
research, focusing on state-of-the-art treatment as well as the
development of novel approaches to improving the cutting-edge therapy,
it would become a major resource for scientists, engineers and
biomedical researchers within the campus community. The research
program would additionally include the investigation of therapeutic
application of other particles with similar properties, making the
facility unique from any other proton therapy center in the country.
Having such a facility would also benefit UCSD Medical School by
drawing in students who are interested in the innovative techniques
that the Moores Center will be using and researching. Therefore, in
addition to having more resources available for current scientists and
engineers, UCSD would be making a tremendous investment to attract
future students and researchers — thereby making the $125 million money
well spent.
Currently, UCSD is reviewing information from potential partners to
develop a request for proposals, and over the next few months program
officials hope to create and submit the project for approval by the UC
Regents. If this project is approved, it could lead to great strides,
not only for UCSD Medical Center, but, more importantly, for cancer
patients and researchers worldwide.rch, it’s
easy to see why.