According to reports, thanks to an alliance announced between Proton Therapy Australia (PTA) and Brisbane Mater Health Services, leader in research and education, the Australian cancer patients are a step closer to receiving at home the much needed life-changing proton therapy treatment.
Associate professor Michael Penniment, Director of radiation oncology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, declared that proton therapy is a better treatment method for cancers because it could avoid current side effects of radiotherapy.
The professor added that proton therapy is able to focus the treatment on cancerous cells only and to stop the radiation before it affects normal cells and tissues.
Especially for children, this is a particularly useful approach but also for treating tumors in adult patients, tumors that are too close to critical structures like spinal cords where proton therapy stops before it affects the critical normal tissue, yet still it cures the cancer.
The proton device for treatment of cancer is currently unavailable in Australia. Every year, the Federal Government pays for about 10 Australians to undergo proton therapy treatment overseas at a cost of about $200,000 per patient.
Professor Penniment explained that making the treatment available in Australia would allow more people to benefit from it and it would be a cheaper option. According to him, this could help 600 or 800 patients across Australia who have no access to other curative option, many of them don't even knowing what they're missing out.
The South Australian (SA) Government announced that it would cost about $280 million to establish a proton therapy center at Adelaide's new city biomedical facility. The SA authorities have urged the Federal Government to back the plan and provide the necessary funding.
Premier Jay Weatherill declared that he had contacted the Prime Minister and was encouraged by the way he received his proposal. Mr Weatherill added that a proton therapy center in the state could draw patients from overseas and across Australia and create its own income stream.
There is a business case associated with an income stream and a substantial contribution from both the South Australian Government and the Flinders University, he said.
