The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute Marks 18 Years of Advancing Patient Care and Clinical Research in Cancer Treatment
August 14, 2024, is the 18th anniversary of the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute, commemorating the first day of proton therapy treatments at the state-of-the-art cancer treatment and research center.
The Institute was the fifth proton center to treat cancer patients in the U.S. and the first located in the Southeast. It is affiliated with the University of Florida College of Medicine and the UF Health Cancer Center, an NCI-Designated Cancer Center.
The missions of the Institute are to provide high-quality care to people who need cancer treatment and to conduct high-quality clinical research that will forward the field of cancer therapeutics.
The Institute is founded on the promise of protons, the particles of an atom, to deliver highly effective radiation doses to treat and cure cancer with less radiation to healthy tissue. This would achieve excellent patient outcomes, such as improved survival rates and quality of life, fewer side effects and reduction in secondary cancers.
These founding concepts are bearing out in the years since, through nearly 80 clinical trials and more than 420 studies of actual patient outcomes published in peer-reviewed journals.
2024 UF Health Proton Therapy Institute By the Numbers
- 79 clinical research trials opened
- 420 studies published in peer-reviewed journals
- 98% of patients participate in clinical trials
- Over $13 million external research funding received
- 175+ fellows and residents educated
Reducing the length of time and number of treatments needed to effectively treat prostate cancer is one way the Institute is improving treatments for patients through clinical research. Men with low-risk or intermediate-risk prostate cancer treated on the shorter six-week, 28 treatments protocol may save time and money. The standard proton therapy course for prostate cancer is eight weeks, 39 treatments. The five- and seven-years outcomes study published in 2022 shows that men treated on the shorter course achieve excellent survival rates and low rates of side effects.
For children and adolescent patients, reducing the amount of radiation the brain receives has lifelong benefits. The results of a craniopharyngioma study, run jointly with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, demonstrated that proton therapy resulted in less reduction in IQ and everyday function compared to traditional radiation. These results were published in Lancet Oncology in 2023.
Lowering the radiation dose, or dose deintensification, may benefit some patients with certain types of cancer. A clinical trial underway at the Institute is exploring whether lower doses of radiation therapy may be as effective as the standard higher doses for people with HPV (human papillomavirus)-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. This could result in fewer side effects with apparent equal effectiveness against these types of head and neck cancer, as described in a study published in Seminars in Radiation Oncology in 2021.
The Institute is at the forefront of advanced technology in radiation oncology, including pencil beam scanning, which is the latest technique for delivering precise, conformal and intensity-modulated proton therapy. The Institute is equipped with double scattering proton therapy and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) to treat a wide range of cancers. Treatment plans are customized for each patient, expertly designed by the physician and medical physicist to achieve the optimal outcome.
The next generation of radiation oncologists and medical physicists who receive training through fellowships and residencies at the Institute are part of the nearly 20-year legacy of the proton center. As they enter radiation oncology practice, whether locally or abroad, they bring with them the skills and knowledge of advanced radiation oncology to benefit their patients who need radiation therapies.
It is the goal of the Institute for every patient to be cured and to go on to live life to the fullest. An immeasurable impact of the Institute is in each and every person treated, more than 11,000, their families and friends. Their legacy transcends the moment in time that they were treated for cancer and extends for generations into the future.