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New ProCure Proton Therapy Center Celebrates Grand Opening

by Barbara Kram, Editor | July 29, 2009
ProCure's proton therapy
facility opens in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City -- The first group of what will eventually be 1,500 patients a year are being accepted for proton therapy treatment for their cancer at the new ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Oklahoma City, which celebrated its official grand opening this month. Patients with head and neck, brain, central nervous system, prostate and some pediatric cancers, among others, will be treated at the new Center, the first in a network of ProCure centers to open across the country.

Patients who have been treated with proton therapy joined in a ribbon cutting today along with physicians, cancer advocacy groups and VIPs from around the state. The ProCure Proton Therapy Center is only the sixth such center in operation in the United States that treats a variety of cancer tumors, and the only center to open since 2006.

"This is a great day - a day of hope and celebration - for patients with cancer," said John Cameron, Ph.D., a pioneer in particle physics and the founder of ProCure Treatment Centers, Inc. of the ribbon-cutting. "We are dedicated to bringing this powerful cancer fighting tool to more patients and the Oklahoma City center is the first realization of our mission."

"We have been looking forward to this [grand opening] and I could not be happier or more excited for our patients," said W.C. Goad, M.D., medical director of the Center and a founder of Radiation Medicine Associates, the eight-physician radiation oncology practice that joined with ProCure to bring the Center to Oklahoma. "Every aspect of the Center was designed and developed with a focus on patients and on providing exceptional patient care. We will care for and about our patients and provide them with a healing environment."

Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation treatment for many types of cancer. Protons kill cancer cells by preventing them from dividing and growing. Patients experience fewer short- and long-term side effects with proton therapy than with traditional forms of radiation, as proton therapy causes significantly less damage to healthy tissue and vital organs.

The Procure Proton Therapy Center is affiliated with INTEGRIS Health, the largest Oklahoma-owned, not-for-profit health system in the state. INTEGRIS is opening the state-of-the-art Cancer Institute of Oklahoma adjacent to the proton therapy Center and will provide treatment and services to patients who may need additional care while undergoing proton therapy.

"Cancer patients benefit greatly when they have treatment options and protons give us another potent weapon," said Stan Hupfeld, president/CEO of INTEGRIS Health. "We are committed to doing everything in our power to help patients fight cancer and are very pleased to be part of bringing this new option to Oklahoma and patients throughout the United States."