Cone Health to Become One of Only 5 Locations Worldwide Researching a New Angle on Cancer Radiation Therapy
Turns out it might be better to sit up rather than lie down during cancer treatments.
Greensboro – Cone Health Cancer Center has been asked to join a unique research group of global health care leaders to see if it's better to treat cancer in an upright position. Cone Health will build a new radiation vault to house innovative equipment from Leo Cancer Care. The North Carolina Division of Health Service Regulation Certificate of Need Section has approved an exemption for the project to proceed.
The equipment will allow the patient to sit while receiving radiation therapy instead of lying down as is done in clinics around the world today. “The goal of radiation therapy is to kill cancer cells by directing radiation to them without causing significant harm to normal healthy cells,” said B.J. Sintay, PhD, Cone Health Chief Physicist. “When we lie down, our organs shift and position differently. For example, the lungs are compressed to about 80% of their normal size. We can account for that, but humans live most of their lives upright. We are very hopeful that this may open the door to more effective, more comfortable treatment.”
Leo Cancer Care Device
The Upright Photon Alliance
The idea will be tested by a consortium, known as the “Upright Photon Alliance.” The initial members were just announced at the end of the annual meeting of ASTRO, the American Society for Radiation Oncology, held in Washington, D.C. The members are Cone Health; The Mayo Clinic; Germany-based Center for Radiation Research in Oncology, OncoRay; the France-based academic institution dedicated solely to cancer care, Centre Léon Bérard; and one of the world's largest private health care providers, Singapore-based IHH Healthcare.
A Unique Membership
Leo Cancer Care’s Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Towe, said: “There has never been a consortium comprising such a diverse group of high-profile partners, each bringing different strengths to this research and development collaboration.
This reflects what we are trying to do with this product. We are building something that will usher in a new era of radiotherapy, with new capabilities that we believe will drive new clinical utilization. We are also developing a platform to take our solution to countries where it has not been before.”
The consortium is unusual in that its membership not only includes large cutting-edge academic research centers, but also community-based health care groups. If the system works as hoped, the idea is that the research can transfer into community cancer centers, benefiting patients more quickly.
Cone Health plans to build the system next year, opening it in mid-summer. The vault and Leo Cancer Care equipment will be a $10 million investment in researching the best ways to treat cancer for people in the eastern U.S.
