IBA Proteus®ONE Proton Therapy
Willis-Knighton Cancer Center truly offers the most advanced form of cancer fighting technology in the world. Among the options available for external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), nothing speaks to the truth of that statement as effectively as pencil-beam scanning, intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) using the IBA Proteus®ONE. As the world’s first clinical installation of a Proteus®ONE compact IMPT proton therapy system, Willis-Knighton has demonstrated both the foresight and leadership to provide a type of therapy not available anywhere else in the state of Louisiana or in the region.
Proton therapy is the most precise form of radiation treatment available today. It is an advanced form of radiotherapy that uses a beam of protons to destroy the primary tumor site while leaving surrounding healthy tissue and organs intact and unharmed. Unlike traditional radiation, protons stop at a specific depth and do not continue to travel through the body, allowing for the most strict control of radiation dose distributions available. By leaving surrounding healthy tissue undamaged, tumors close to important body structures (brain, spinal cord, optic nerve, heart, lung, bladder, and rectum) can be more safely treated.
The Proteus®ONE is a single-room, compact-gantry system employing a cyclotron-generated proton beam that is modulated or controlled to target a physician-defined treatment volume. Advanced cone-beam CT image guidance, along with stereoscopic orthogonal and oblique planar kilovoltage imaging, provide detailed visualization of patient anatomy and treatment area, allowing a six degree-of-freedom robotic couch to precisely position the patient for treatment. Our Proteus®ONE is also equipped with a unique Philips Ambient Experience package that comforts patients during treatment with custom sounds, colors, and video.
For work commissioning the Proteus®ONE system, members of the Willis-Knighton Radiation Oncology team were named recipients of The George Starkschall Award of Excellence for an outstanding radiation oncology physics article published in the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics in 2018.