The region’s only cyclotron will complete its 3,700 mile transatlantic journey from Belgium by arriving with a police escort from the Port Authority of Philadelphia to the Roberts Proton Therapy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, which will comprise a dedicated pediatric program administered by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The cyclotron weighs 220 tons, about the same as a 747 airliner, but is only 18 feet in diameter and 8 feet high. In order for it to be safely transported on paved roads, a special 19-axle, 200-foot long trailer truck was constructed.
The cyclotron’s job is to accelerate atoms to near-light speeds to create a healing beam of energy that can then be targeted to kill cancerous/malignant tumors with unprecedented accuracy, without harming nearby healthy tissue or organs.
For the final leg of its journey, the massively heavy, metal accelerator will be greeted by the Mummer All-Stars, marking the occasion that represents a landmark new option for the treatment of cancer in the Philadelphia region.
The cyclotron’s energy beam will be directed to five treatment rooms, each over two stories tall, making the Roberts Proton Therapy Center the largest of its kind in the world and the only cancer treatment center to fully integrate conventional radiology treatment and proton beam therapy.
The Proton Therapy Program will begin treating patients in 2009.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia will be the first freestanding children’s hospital to provide a more advanced and targeted approach to cancer treatment. In the future, 60 to 70 percent of children who receive conventional radiation could benefit from proton therapy.
In addition, Penn has established a new relationship with Walter Reed Army Medical Center, through which proton therapy technology will be available to treat United States military personnel and veterans.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.