CINCINNATI — At Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, a multi-million-dollar proton lab is changing the way Dr. John Perentesis treats children with cancer.
While cure rates for children with cancer have improved dramatically in the last 20 years, now the methods for targeting cancer are much more precise as well.
“We are at the threshold of a real revolution in how we treat pediatric cancers,” Perentesis said. “It’s not only how do you cure kids, but how do you cure kids without doing damage and assuring, really, lifelong wellness.”
Since traditional chemotherapy kills healthy cells and cancer cells, children can experience long-term consequences following treatment. With proton therapy, a 90-ton particle accelerator called a cyclotron produces a beam of radiation that can be focused to within a millimeter, the size of a coarse grain of salt, to attack tumors.
Source: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital using proton therapy to treat children with cancer
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