McLaren Proton Therapy Center to be First in the World to Treat Patients with Leo Cancer Care’s Upright Proton Therapy Technology
Delivering proton therapy to patients seated upright improves access to care
From left to right: Prof. Thomas ‘Rock’ Mackie, Co-Founder of Leo Cancer Care, Dr. Hesham Gayar, Medical Director at McLaren Proton Therapy Center and Stephen Towe, CEO of Leo Cancer Care
FLINT, Mich. — The McLaren Proton Therapy Center is poised to become the first in the world to deliver proton therapy to patients with Leo Cancer Care’s ground-breaking upright treatment technology. In a landmark agreement. Leo Cancer Care will install two upright units at the McLaren Proton Therapy Center in Flint, Michigan, with the first patients set to receive care via the innovative treatment delivery system within the next two years upon receipt of the FDA’s clearance for the technology.
“The goal of Leo Cancer Care and McLaren Proton Therapy Center’s collaboration is to bring proton therapy to more patients, and we know there are clear advantages with proton therapy,” said Stephen Towe, CEO, Leo Cancer Care. “The McLaren Proton Therapy Center is well-positioned to become the first to potentially treat patients with the revolutionary Leo Cancer Care technology.”
Towe noted research highlighting that upright positioning results in less organ movement during treatment. It also creates better communication channels between the patient and clinician. Proton therapy delivers highly targeted doses of radiation to cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue, reducing side effects, and resulting in successful outcomes. Benefits of delivering radiation therapy to patients seated in an upright position include comfort and a better patient experience compared to laying down on a table.
The McLaren Proton Therapy Center is one of 15 Karmanos Cancer Network sites. Headquartered in Detroit, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute is designated by the National Cancer Institute as one of the nation’s top cancer centers. The McLaren Proton Therapy Center is already the largest proton center in Michigan. The new Leo Cancer Care technology will increase patient throughput, improving access to proton therapy for patients afflicted with cancer in Michigan and beyond.
“McLaren and Karmanos are committed to delivering world-class, comprehensive cancer care right in Genesee County,” said Chris Candela, President and CEO of McLaren Flint. “The aim of our innovative partnership with Leo Cancer Care is to provide greater access to proton therapy for patients throughout Michigan and around the globe.”
The inclusion of the Leo Cancer Care Technology and expansion of the McLaren Proton Therapy Center is part of a larger project to grow and improve McLaren Flint’s Comprehensive Cancer Program.
From left to right: Thomas ‘Rock’ Mackie, Co-Founder of Leo Cancer, Daniel Medrano, Co-Director of Research and Development for the McLaren Proton Therapy System and Stephen Towe, CEO of Leo Cancer Care.
Patient Throughput
McLaren has ordered two ‘Marie™’ units from Leo Cancer Care, with both fitting into an area earmarked for a single conventional rotating gantry, where patients lay horizontally, at its existing proton center.
Towe explained: “Once we saw the site, we explained we could add a dividing wall through the middle of the room and put two of our treatment devices in the same space that they were originally going to have one conventional gantry. It effectively doubles patient throughput from the same footprint.”
With the equipment taking up half the space, and effectively half the cost of conventional radiotherapy units, the agreement has important commercial and economic benefits for the healthcare provider.
A specialist team of healthcare designers and architects from Gresham Smith have designed the two treatment rooms, utilizing the existing space within the proton center.
Marie™ Units
Marie™, Leo’s comprehensive solution for upright particle therapy, is named after physicist and chemist Marie Curie, who spearheaded research into radioactivity.
It features dual-energy diagnostic quality CT at the treatment isocenter to enable state-of-the-art adaptive therapy; a stationary fixed beam delivery system that will improve reliability, beam parameters and accuracy while at the same time reducing maintenance costs; and a sophisticated patient positioning system, allowing for imaging and treating of all particle therapy-specific anatomical sites in the upright position.
In addition, less shielding is required and there are advantages in terms of installation, maintenance and running costs.
The installation will help increase patient flow through McLaren’s existing proton therapy center as part of its routine care delivery and treatment of patients with lung, breast, and prostate cancers.
Smaller Footprint
The technology brings a new dimension to cancer treatment by keeping the radiation beam fixed and slowly rotating the patient while seated in an upright position.
This means the units, which are a quarter the size of conventional proton therapy machines, have a significantly smaller footprint to make optimum use of healthcare space.
The shift away from rotating a large radiation generation source around a patient, to keeping the radiation source fixed and slowly rotating the patient, also reduces the cost of equipment and construction.
“McLaren will realize a sizable capital cost reduction by implementing the Leo Cancer Care upright positioning and imaging system instead of our present three-story, one hundred plus ton, rotating gantry solution,” said Daniel Medrano, Co-Director of Research and Development for the McLaren Proton Therapy System.
Increased Capacity
Underlining the benefits of the Marie™ system, which has previously been used in research applications, Towe said:
“What this shows very clearly is that you can utilize space more effectively with a fixed beam and fit more of these treatment rooms into the same space, and as a result have more beam time to treat patients. Two treatment rooms double the patient throughput; it is great for the hospital and great for patients because it will deliver more patient capacity at the McLaren Proton Therapy Center.”
With the building planning and project delivery schedule now underway, the aim is to be treating patients with these upright machines within two years upon receipt of the FDA’s clearance for the technology.
*The Leo Cancer Care technology does not currently have a CE mark in the EU, or an FDA 510k clearance in the US, but Leo Cancer Care is in the process of acquiring those regulatory approvals, which will be in place prior to the installation at the Flint site.