The East African Diaspora Media Watch (EADM)

By Samuel Muwanguzi

In Summary: The Texas Center for Proton Therapy and the East African Chamber of Commerce (EACC) are joining forces to conduct an education session on the new non-conventional cancer Proton treatment technology recently unveiled in North Texas.   The  event, exclusively for EACC members, will include a tour of the newly opened $111 million-state-of-the-art Texas Center for Proton Therapy, a  presentation session, and a reception in the conference hall of the facility  this Thursday, May 19, 2016 starting at 6:00 PM.  Proton therapy, a new cancer treatment technology using a pencil beam scanning technique, deposits high doses of radiation precisely within the tumor, preserving the surrounding healthy tissue.  Proton therapy's precision, with beams as small as 2.5 millimeters wide, is especially valuable and effective in attacking tumors in sensitive areas, including the brain, spine, heart, chest, prostate, head and neck. The therapy has been a breakthrough in treating tumors in children, whose brains and bodies are still growing and developing.

Irving, Texas— The Texas Center for Proton Therapy and the East African Chamber of Commerce (EACC) are joining forces to conduct an education session on the new non-conventional cancer Proton treatment technology recently unveiled in North Texas.   The event, exclusively for EACC members only, will include a tour of the newly opened 63,000-square -foot area-state-of-the-art center, a presentation session, and dinner in the conference hall of the facility this Thursday, May 19, 2016 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The meeting is part of the EACC Monthly round table program that facilitates interactions between EACC members and partner organizations to network and exchange ideas to grow and develop their respective businesses and professions, a statement by the EACC Chairwoman Elsa Juko McDowell said Monday.

“During this monthly round-table meeting for May, officials from the Texas Center for Proton Therapy will conduct the EACC members on a tour of its facility, offer its conference hall for the meeting, conduct an educational session on the new cancer treatment technology using proton therapy, and host EACC members to a reception,” she stated. 

This is one of the world’s best cancer treatment centers that use unconventional methods to treat cancer through proton therapy. According to the EACC statement, the newly-opened-$111 million-ultra-modern-Texas Center for Proton Therapy, where the members-only event will take place, is located at 1501 West Royal Lane, Irving, TX 75063. For non-Members, the statement advises those interested to be part of this historical event to follow The Link below to Become a Member or Come by and Sign Up For A one-Year Membership And Get Free Access To The Event. To expedite the process of joining EACC, interested and potential members are advised to sign-up at:

http://www.eachamber.com/join-the-east-africa-chamber/

  

Proton therapy, a new cancer treatment technology using a pencil beam scanning technique, deposits high doses of radiation precisely within the tumor, preserving the surrounding healthy tissue.  Proton therapy's precision, with beams as small as 2.5 millimeters wide, is especially valuable and effective in attacking tumors in sensitive areas, including the brain, spine, heart, chest, prostate, head and neck. The therapy has been a breakthrough in treating tumors in children, whose brains and bodies are still growing and developing.

It is an ultra-precise technique that "paints" proton radiation on tumors layer by layer in three dimensions. The non-conventional cancer Proton treatment sessions typically take 15 to 40 minutes, with each noninvasive beam delivered for one to three minutes. Depending on the tumor, treatment regimens continue for one to 45 sessions, lasting anywhere from one day to nine weeks.

Recently, some of the EACC executive and board members were taken on a guided tour of the $111 million-ultra-modern Texas Center for Proton Therapy facility which opened in Los Karinas last November. The tour of the facility, sitting on a 63,000-square -foot  area, conducted by Mr. Pigg, an official of the Center, heralded a new day for North Texas cancer patients who can now receive the latest in proton beam technology where none existed before. The EACC officials on the tour included Chairwoman Elsa Juko McDowell, Vice Chair Bill Morgan, and Board Member and Treasurer Benson Kasue.

At each level of the three-floor building, inspiring and motivating statements are inscribed on walls of the building to provide comfort and hope to the patients. The building's design promotes patient comfort and convenience as well as clinical efficiency," Mr. Piggs says. The ambiance is such that even the patients in the most critical of condition feel the welcoming embrace and warmth within the facility; fellowship with other recuperating peers and a personal connection with health professionals, raising hopes that even malignant tumors will start healing as fast as they came as a possible outcome.

In examination rooms, a patient goes through an Array of technologies including a comprehensive panel of imaging devices such as PET/ CT and MRI scanning to aid thorough diagnosis and help monitor progress during and after treatment. The center’s cone- beam CT image guidance system offers clinicians a 3-D view of a patient's anatomy for a tailored approach. The scanning technology is used in conjunction with on-board cone- beam C, T image guidance, which allows meticulous treatment delivery, the combined technologies place Texas Center for Proton Therapy in the forefront of proton therapy centers in the U.S. The facility is also the largest, proton center in Texas and the surrounding states offering multiple pencil-beam scanning technology and treatment, the latest generation of equipment in the field.

According to Mr. Pigg, many hours are dedicated to each patient's treatment plan and everything is customized to each patient. “It's not one-size-fits-all because everyone's cancer is specific to an individual, requiring tremendous amount of teamwork and collaboration to plan and deliver the treatment, he said.

Mr. Pigg explained to the EACC delegation that for the tiny powerful beams fired inside treatment rooms to do their work, their power originates from a vast facility built to house the leading-edge equipment needed to provide the latest in advanced radiation care.

Mr. Pigg told the EACC delegation that half the length of a football field away from patient areas, is a room hidden within 12-foot- thick concrete walls with a 220-ton particle accelerator called a cyclotron. The cyclotron, he explained, accelerates tumor-destroying beams by whisking protons to treatment rooms through a beamline at two-thirds the speed of light. At the back of the center's treatment rooms contain three-story-tall equipment called gantry. Gantries are able to fire   proton beams from any angle necessary to destroy tumors in patients without harming surrounding healthy tissues.

The cutting-edge technology, Mr. Pigg explained, has much better control over radiation delivery posing fewer side effects for adult patient and a better quality of life. For pediatric patients, the therapy has fewer short- and long-term   side effects and a lower risk of secondary cancer years down the road, he assured the EACC delegation.