Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Will Open Central Pennsyl- vania’s Only Proton Therapy Center

Pamela J. Boimel, MD, PhD, explains that proton therapy uses proton energy (positively charged particles) instead of standard X-rays to destroy cancer cells. While more powerful than standard radiation treatments, it is safe for patients, due to the unique way proton beams enter the body.

PENN MEDICINE LANCASTER GENERAL HEALTH Will Open Central Pennsylvania’s Only Proton Therapy Center

Proton therapy — a revolutionary radiation treatment that targets cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy, making it possible to safely treat tumors near critical organs or highly sensitive areas of the body — will be available to patients in Lancaster later this fall.

Only two centers in Pennsylvania will offer proton therapy: Penn Medicine’s Roberts Proton Therapy Center in Philadelphia, and now Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health. LG Health’s new Proton Therapy Center, located at the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute, represents a $48 million investment in innovative and essential patient care in Lancaster County and surrounding communities.

The new Proton Therapy Center is the latest milestone in LG Health’s continuing efforts to deliver advanced cancer treatment locally. The Cancer Institute, which opened in 2013, now cares for 15,000 patients

Proton therapy is a revolutionary radiation treatment that targets cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy, making it possible to safely treat tumors near critical organs or highly sensitive areas of the body, such as the brain, spinal cord, heart, lungs, head, and neck.

per year, demonstrating LG Health’s nearly 130- year commitment to its mission of advancing the health and well-being of the community.

Pamela J. Boimel, MD, PhD, Medical Director, Radiation Oncology, and Director, Proton Therapy, at LG Health’s Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute, explains that proton therapy uses proton energy (positively charged particles) instead of standard X-rays to destroy cancer cells. While it’s more powerful than standard radiation treatments, it is safe, due to the unique way proton beams enter the body.

“Traditional radiation enters the body from one side and exits the other side. Healthy tissues in the path of these X-rays are exposed to radiation,” she said. “With proton therapy, we can tightly mold the proton beam to fit the shape and depth of individual tumors. We also control the path of the beam so it travels directly to the tumor and stops, without continuing through the body. This spares more healthy tissue and may result in fewer hospitalizations and lower risk of side effects or complications for some cancers.”

Proton therapy is perhaps the most advanced treatment for cancer tumors located close to critical organs and highly sensitive areas of the body, such as the brain, spinal cord, heart, lungs, head and neck. It also provides new options for patients whose cancers can’t be completely removed by surgery, or who have previously received standard radiation in the same area.

LG Health’s new Proton Therapy Center builds on Penn Medicine’s proton therapy expertise led by the Roberts Proton Therapy Center in Philadelphia, which opened in 2010 and is the largest center in the world for both proton and standard radiation. Penn Medicine has treated more than 8,000 patients with proton therapy and provided training to more than 70 percent of the clinicians using this technology across the world.

Proton therapy is a significant addition to the comprehensive cancer treatment options offered at the Cancer Institute, including a broad array of radiation-therapy services. LG Health’s radiation department is fully integrated with the Penn Medicine team in Philadelphia.

LG Health is able to treat a multitude of cancers using proton therapy, including brain and spinal tumors; breast cancer; gynecologic cancers; gastrointestinal cancers; head and neck cancers; lung cancer; lymphoma; mesothelioma; prostate cancer; and sarcomas.

Compared to standard radiation therapy, proton therapy reduces radiation to healthy tissues by 50–70 percent, with fewer hospitalizations, and lower risk of side effects or complications reported for some cancers. For example, patients with head or neck cancers often experience fewer side effects — such as loss of taste, smell, and ability to salivate — than with standard radiation therapy, resulting in better quality-of-life outcomes.

The new Lancaster center also alleviates travel and related burdens for local patients, who previously had to travel to Philadelphia to receive proton therapy. Patients typically receive proton therapy treatments five days a week for several consecutive weeks.

As part of Penn Medicine, the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute offers a unique combination of clinical expertise and personalized support services at every step — from diagnosis to treatment to survivorship and follow-up care — all in the comfort of a community setting. Multidisciplinary teams of oncology experts work together to ensure the highest level of patient care close to home. This includes a continually expanding list of treatment options, from the latest technologies and surgical procedures to next-generation immunotherapies and clinical trials.

LG Health recently began offering CAR T-cell (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell) immunotherapy, the first FDA-approved gene therapy that trains a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer more effectively. It was developed by work led at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, which has been at the forefront of immunotherapy research for decades.

T-cells, a type of white blood cell, are removed from the patient and reprogrammed to find and destroy cancer cells when reinfused into the bloodstream. The treatment brings new hope to patients with certain types of aggressive blood cancers that have not responded to other therapies.

“We are committed to bringing advanced medicine to our patients in Lancaster and Central Pennsylvania,” said Randall A. Oyer, MD, the Cancer Institute’s Executive Medical Director. “For families in our community to have local access to the kind of care rarely seen outside a major academic medical center — it’s nothing short of life-changing.”

LG Health’s new Proton Therapy Center is located adjacent to the Ann B. Barshinger Cancer Institute at 2102 Harrisburg Pike, Lancaster.