Cincinnati Children’s Proton Therapy Center is a revolutionary facility that utilizes technology at the leading edge of cancer treatment. Proton therapy is the preferred option for treating the vast majority of solid tumors in children and young adults, because the protons can be targeted precisely to tumors and with fewer long-term side effects than traditional radiation therapy. Our proton therapy program began in 2016 with a state-of-the-art facility and groundbreaking research providing new insights to advance the technology.

The Cincinnati Children’s Proton Center uses the latest “pencil beam scanning” technology, which greatly increases the precision of the proton radiation therapy. Pencil beam scanning couples pinpoint accuracy with an electrically guided scanning system that moves the beam in a precise fashion of pencil-point sharpness, layer by layer, throughout the entire structure of the tumor. The precision of the pencil beam scanning makes it ideal for the treatment of irregularly shaped tumors that are located next to vital tissues and organs. These tumors include many pediatric cancers, particularly those involving the brain and spinal cord, eye, head and neck, sarcomas and lymphomas.

Our efforts in proton therapy research and innovation launched with studies comparing the effects of precision protons to regular X-ray beams on cancer cells. Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute researchers Mathieu Sertorio, PhD, and Susanne Wells, PhD, conducted experiments showing that protons kill cancer cells by disrupting unique pathways affecting the structure of the cancer cells’ manufacturing and packaging system, also known as the endoplasmic reticulum, and the cells’ metabolism machinery. These novel discoveries received the top scientific award at the 56th Annual International Meeting of the Particle Therapy Cooperative Group in Tokyo, Japan. The work uncovered key vulnerabilities in the cancer cell that are being targeted with new anticancer drugs in combination with protons.  These regimens will soon be available to our patients in a new clinical trial.