ROYAL OAK — Beaumont Health System has begun construction on a new $40 million Proton Therapy Center in Royal Oak, that will offer a newer, high-tech alternative to treating certain cancers.
When completed in spring 2017, the two-story, 25,200-square-foot building will include a cyclotron that produces the proton beams on the first floor treatment area. The 8,000-square-foot second floor will house Beaumont Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Oncology and Hematology program.
“This technology will allow us to define future treatment strategies for cancer, “ says Craig Stevens, M.D., chairman of radiation oncology. “We will have the capability to retreat cancer that would have otherwise been considered unsalvageable and incurable.”
While proton therapy is not effective against all cancers, Stevens says it can be very effective in treating solid and localized tumors, including some pediatric cancers, soft tissue sarcomas, brain tumors and head/neck cancers.
Proton therapy uses high-speed protons to fight cancer by aiming a high-energy ionizing beam at the tumor, destroying its cells. “This technology is very precise. Real-time CT image guidance can target a tumor with millimeter precision,” Stevens says.
Beaumont has chosen Ion Beam Applications of Belgium, also known as IBA, to install and maintain the proton system at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak. Jones Lang LaSalle at Beaumont will oversee design and construction. Kasco Construction is the contractor and SmithGroupJJR is the architect.
Along with hundreds of construction jobs, Stevens estimates the new Proton Therapy Center will create at least 30 clinical positions at Beaumont.
