NUMBER OF FACILITIES COULD TRIPLE AFTER TWO DECADES OF SLOW GROWTH
By John Mugford
There are only seven operational U.S. proton beam radiation therapy centers, but activity is picking up. This $225 million facility at Hampton University in Hampton, Va., is slated to open this year, and about 20 more are planned.
Rendering courtesy of Hampton University
The first proton beam radiation therapy (PBRT) facility for cancer patients opened in Loma Linda, Calif., in 1990. Despite the effectiveness of the treatment, only six more fully operational PBRT centers have opened in the United States in the subsequent two decades, with an eighth scheduled to open later this year.
The primary reason for the slow spread of PBRT centers is the cost. The centers house some of the most complex and expensive medical equipment ever devised, including huge proton beam-producing cyclotrons weighing about 100 tons and costing more than $100 million for a fully equipped facility. The Great Recession, the credit crisis and the healthcare reform debate intensified scrutiny of pricey medical treatments, prompting some providers to postpone or cancel their PBRT plans.
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