Wisconsin site plans to offer proton therapy for patients with cancer
Proton therapy for cancer patients who require radiation therapy will soon be available in Wisconsin.
Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin is partnering with Legion Healthcare Partners, a Houston-based for-profit health group, to begin offering the therapy in 2023.
Froedtert & the Medical College will begin construction in early 2023 to house the new proton therapy system on the Froedtert Hospital campus in Wauwatosa.
Health care officials would not say what they are building or how much it will cost.
The health network expects to begin treating patients with this advanced radiation technology through the Froedtert & MCW Cancer Network in the second half of 2024.
The addition of proton therapy will make precision radiation therapy more accessible to adult and pediatric cancer patients who currently travel out of state for this treatment.
Proton therapy is offered at Rush Medical Center in Chicago or the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Tina Curtis, vice president of cancer services for Froedtert Health, said the partnership with Legion Healthcare will make proton therapy more accessible to Wisconsin patients.
“Our mission continues to be focused on expanding access to academic medicine, and our goal is to increase the availability of precision treatment options and to provide the right care in the right place at the right time,” Curtis said.
Proton therapy delivers a precisely targeted dose of radiation directly to a tumor using high-energy beams of proton particles rather than X-rays.
According to the National Cancer Institute, proton therapy is less likely to damage nearby healthy tissues and some experts believe that proton therapy is safer than traditional radiation, but there is limited research comparing the two treatments.
Proton therapy is more expensive than traditional radiation, and not all insurance companies cover the cost of the treatment, given the limited evidence of its benefits, the National Cancer Institute found.
“Nevertheless, 31 hospitals across the country have spent millions of dollars building proton therapy centers, and many advertise the potential, but unproven, advantages of the treatment,” according to the National Cancer Institute.