LOMA LINDA >> The future could be curing chronic pain in combat veterans. Or neutralizing the cause of a fluttering heart. It will certainly be about destroying ever increasing varieties of cancers.
Twenty-five years after Loma Linda University Medical Center pioneered the use of proton particles in a hospital setting, officials reflected on the journey on Monday and brought 250 patients and family members together for a homecoming event.
There are now 103 proton centers around the world that are either operating, being built, or in the planning stages, said Dr. Jerry Slater, chairman of the Dr. James Slater Proton and Research Center at LLUMC, named after his father. James Slater did not attend the event.
• Photos: Proton treatment center
“Proton therapy’s efficacy as a premier radiation treatment modality for cancer and other diseases is being reaffirmed every day by the people whose care and longevity have been greatly enhanced by this remarkable technology,” Slater said.
The proton accelerator has treated nearly 20,000 patients from around the world, more than any other proton center, officials said.
James Slater developed the concept and machinery for the pioneering effort that began treating patients in 1990. Jerry Slater assisted in the machine’s evolution.
The energy developed from a giant proton accelerator in the basement of the medical center can be controlled so that it dissipates within a tumor or other tissue it’s aimed at, said Jerry Slater.
The process begins when protons are stripped out of the nucleus of hydrogen atoms and sent to an accelerator, where a series of nearly 7,000 pound magnets and other devices speed the particle to about 80 percent of the speed of light, Slater said.
A beam transport system carries fast-moving protons to one of four treatment rooms. The energy of the protons can be selected to treat cancers from a fraction of an inch to about 14 inches in depth, Slater said.
The $40 million center took four years to build and contains the world’s smallest synchrotron, a type of atomic accelerator, built by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Chicago.
It can serve up to 100 patients in a 10-hour day.
In the relatively near future, the proton center expects to have in operation a scanning beam that can be used to treat cancers that have spread, Slater said.
The future for the proton therapy may extend to injured combat veterans, Slater said. It’s anticipated that in late 2016 a clinical trial will begin to treat a group of veterans with chronic pain from spinal injury.
The proton beam would be used to shut off the nerves in the damaged section of spinal cord, so that that nerves can’t generate pain, Slater said.
The proton particles made at LLUMC have long been used by NASA to test space suits, electronics and other gear.
In terms of space radiation, “protons are an astronauts biggest threat,” he said.
Among the patients returning for the event was Vicky Ramirez, one of 50 women who received breast cancer proton treatment at LLUMC’s first clinical trial.
Ramirez, a Redlands resident, said she has been free of cancer since 2006.
“It was an easy decision for me,” she said. Doctors warned her that traditional radiation therapy might damage the artificial heart valve that keeps her alive.
