Rendering of the future Oklahoma ProCure Treatment Center.

Advanced proton therapy, considered the most advanced form of external radiation therapy available for treating cancer, is one step closer to becoming a reality in Oklahoma following last year’s groundbreaking ceremony for the state’s first proton cancer treatment facility. The event signaled the start of construction of the center, by ProCure Treatment Centers Inc., which will be located along a growing medical corridor in northwest Oklahoma City. Named the Oklahoma ProCure Treatment Center, this location will be the nation’s first private practice proton center.

The 55,000-square-foot facility, featuring four proton treatment rooms, will provide as many as 1,500 cancer patients per year in Oklahoma with access to proton therapy. Scheduled to open in summer 2009, the four treatment rooms include two inclined beam rooms, one fixed horizontal beam room and one gantry treatment room, giving radiation oncologists broad versatility in selecting the precise proton treatment for each patient’s particular cancer and situation.

Proton therapy uses a controlled beam of protons to halt the growth of cancer cells in a tumor. With significantly less damage to healthy tissue and vastly diminished posttreatment side effects, proton therapy has advantages over conventional radiation. Proton therapy’s ability to precisely target tumors makes it ideal for treating tumors near vital organs, particularly in children, who are more sensitive than adults to the effects of radiation.

ProCure Chief Executive Officer Hadley Ford commended state medical and business community leaders for working together to bring proton therapy to Oklahoma.

Rendering of the future INTEGRIS Cancer Institute of Oklahoma.

“We would not be standing here today if it weren’t for the outstanding work of innovators like Dr. W.C. Goad, who initially brought our attention to Oklahoma, and our physician partners at Radiation Medicine Associates and Radiation Oncology Associates,” Ford said. “Together with the support and leadership of visionary investors Aubrey McClendon, Shannon Self and John Frick, and the outstanding forward thinking at INTEGRIS Health, we are turning this dream into a reality in a very timely, seamless manner. As a result, proton cancer treatment will be a reality in Oklahoma sooner rather than later.”

In the United States, proton therapy is currently available only in five major academic centers: Loma Linda University Medical Center in Southern California, Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard Medical School) in Boston, Mass., the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute in Bloomington, Ind., the University of Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Alongside this new, leading-edge treatment facility, INTEGRIS will build a comprehensive cancer institute. The INTEGRIS Cancer Institute of Oklahoma is slated to open in fall 2009. The master planning and development of the Institute has been under way for several months, and it will offer the full complement of ambulatory cancer services for Oklahoma and beyond. The focus of this new campus will be a fully coordinated and seamless experience for patients and their families and loved ones.

For More Information
To learn more about proton therapy or oncology services provided by INTEGRIS Health, call the INTEGRIS HealthLine at (405) 951-2800.

INTEGRIS Health 3300 N.W. Expressway, Oklahoma City, OK 73112 (405) 949-3011 | HealthLine: (888) 951-2277