IU Health Proton Therapy center will close by 2015
By MJ Slaby, Herald-Times, Bloomington, Ind. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Once the roughly 30 current patients finish their treatment, the center and cyclotron will close, displacing about 65 employees at the cyclotron and more than 50 at the proton therapy center.
The once cutting-edge center opened in 2004 as the third center to use a proton beam for focused radiation treatments and the first in the Midwest. Yet, the center never became consistently profitable.
"The financial condition has been a concern for a while," said IU spokesman
The center and cyclotron had a
In the spring, Dr.
The committee recommended to the center's owners --
Although the therapy has been effective in some pediatric treatments such as eye and brain cancer, other less expensive therapies are just as effective for more types of cancer, such as prostate cancer, Land said.
The original hope for the center was the therapy would be used more broadly, but it ended up being a niche, he said. According to the center, patient numbers were once as high as 75 at a given time, but in recent years, 30 has been typical.
The cyclotron came to its current location in 1976. So unlike newer proton therapy centers located in hospitals, the IU center came to be because the cyclotron already existed and also could be used to treat cancer.
First used for physics research, the cyclotron's current main use was the proton therapy center, Land said. He said there are about four small research contracts for the cyclotron that will end.
However, the
Land said the main focus now is finishing treatment for patients and helping the current employees find jobs, first in comparable positions at IU or
While there were various factors that led to closing the center, Land said none had to do with the staff. In fact, the committee praised the staff.
"We feel strongly that this has nothing to do with the quality of work," Land said.
IU Health Proton Therapy center over the years
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