Mayo Clinic: Proton beam therapy: Alternative to radiation therapy in some types of cancer with high recurrence

This article interests me from the contruction and tech viewpoints, but also and even more importantly from the viewpoint of building and technology aimed to reduce the cases of recurrent cancer treatments that two of my friends have been undergoing for years.  We have no such facility in Canada, so were my friends interested in such an advanced-tech treatment they woud have to travel south to the USA, I understand.  Machinery for just one of the proton beam treatment rooms requires two-floors of space to obtain "the proper treatment direction," I presume, in order to pinpoint the precise position of the cancerous cells in the patient's body.   In the long-run this medical-technological building is expected to reduce financial costs as well, in comparison to expenses of recurrent treatments for stricken patients.

— Albert Gedraitis

PostBulletin.com (Rochester, Minnesota USA) Nov13,2k12

$185 million Mayo Clinic proton beam therapy center marks construction milestone

Posted: Nov 13, 2012, 8:37 am

by Jeff Kiger The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN Mayo Clinic's proton center by the numbers  • 2.9 million pounds of steel in the building. • 6,000 truckloads of dirt and rock excavated/removed. That's equal to 74,000 cubic yards. • 19,419 cubic yards of concrete. • 2.34 million pounds of rebar. • 500 construction jobs. By putting the final steel beam in place, Mayo Clinic in Rochester marked another milestone in its journey toward offering proton beam therapy on Monday. Despite the cold temperatures with a dusting of snow, many Mayo Clinic doctors and executives came out to sign the beam, which was painted white with a Christmas tree attached to it. John Black, the co-chairman of Mayo Clinic's proton beam center project, described the construction of the $185 million proton therapy treatment center as "online, on time and within budget." He said "the physics project with a beautiful appearance on the outside" should be able to start treating patients by mid-2015. The Rochester building will be named in honor of Richard O. Jacobson, in recognition of his $100 million gift to Mayo Clinic's Proton Beam Therapy Program. Jacobson founded the Jacobson Companies, a Des Moines corporation that operates public warehouses and trucking and packaging businesses. Mayo Clinic studies have predicted that about 1,240 patients per year will come to Rochester for treatment at the facility. The clinic also is building a second $185 million proton center on its Arizona campus. Black told the crowd huddled against the cold wind at the beam raising that the center is expected to "lower health care costs in the long term." Dr. Robert Foote, Mayo Clinic's chairman of Radiation Oncology, later elaborated on that. "The costs that will be lowered will be the costs associated with treating the acute side effects and long-term complications typically associated with conventional radiation therapy and the costs associated with treating recurrent cancer," Foote said. "The initial treatment costs will be lowered for some specific types of cancer in which the number of treatments can be substantially reduce." There are 10 such facilities in operation in the U.S. There are seven, including the two being built by Mayo Clinic, under construction. However, Mayo Clinic says the growing number of such facilities does not affect the drive to open the Rochester center. "There's no competitive pressure. The only pressure and urgency is for our patients with cancer," says Foote. The Rochester facility will feature four pencil-beam cancer treatment rooms. Each will be equipped with machinery that requires two floors of space to rotate to the proper treatment direction. When Mayo Clinic broke ground for the project, it was mentioned that a possible Phase II had been sketched out to add as many as 17 floors on top of the proton facility. Mayo Clinic officials say they have nothing to publicly report on a possible 17-floor addition.