Home to the largest and most comprehensive radiation therapy program in Oklahoma, the Stephenson Cancer Center at OU Medicine has commenced proton therapy treatments with the MEVION S250i Proton Therapy System with HYPERSCAN Pencil Beam Scanning.
Cleared by the FDA in 2017, HYPERSCAN improves on existing scanning capabilities to deliver conformal fields of therapeutic radiation to tumors faster, with more precision and is the most advanced form of pencil beam scanning available today.
“We are excited to offer our patients this advanced radiation therapy,” said Terence Herman, M.D., radiation oncologist at the Stephenson Cancer Center. “We provide a full range of treatment options, which ensures patients can stay in Oklahoma to receive the best possible care. Proton therapy is yet another important tool we can use in the fight against cancer, and the Mevion HYPERSCAN system provides a level of precision that far exceeds that of earlier, non-focused proton treatment techniques.”
As part of OU Medicine’s National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center, the single-room compact proton system is embedded directly into the radiation oncology department. This efficient approach enables the cancer center to share existing resources and give patients access to OU Medicine’s robust collection of cancer-fighting therapies under one roof.
OU Medicine anticipates using the new system to treat brain tumors, select head-and-neck tumors, abdominal tumors such as pancreatic cancer, some rare neural tumors, localized prostate cancer, and essentially all tumors in pediatric patients. Several research projects are planned as well.
“We congratulate the team at OU Medicine for the launch of their proton therapy program. We are proud to partner with this leading cancer center," said Tina Yu, CEO of Mevion Medical Systems. “We have been successful in meeting the needs of our customers and our patients by making proton therapy a more affordable, accessible and feasible technology than ever before.”
Adoption of proton therapy has been expanding rapidly because of the development of compact proton therapy systems. Today, new proton therapy systems are almost exclusively compact single-room systems. Mevion was the first company to innovate this new approach to proton therapy, and with the start of the OU Medicine program, nearly 80 percent of compact proton centers treating patients in the U.S. are Mevion systems.
For more information, please visit www.mevion.com.
