With their whole lives ahead of them, no patients have more to gain from fewer side effects in cancer treatment than children.

Memphis-based St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital aims to bring the latest in proton therapy specifically to this age group — it has opened the St. Jude Red Frog Events Proton Therapy Center, the world’s first proton therapy center solely dedicated to children.

“The opening of the St. Jude Red Frog Events Proton Therapy Center marks an important step in our efforts to provide therapies that maximize cures while minimizing long-term treatment complications,” said St. Jude president and CEO Dr. James R. Downing in a statement.

The center, he added, brings together cutting-edge technology as well as many experts to, “usher in a new era in the treatment of children with brain tumors, in solid tumors, and with Hodgkin's lymphoma — treatment that is not only going to advance our ability to cure these patients, but treatment that really is going to make sure that every child has the absolute best chance for living a long and productive life, free of the complications that can occur as a result of therapy.”

The three-story complex houses proton machines with 190-degree half gantries. Treatment rooms also have spot-scanning irradiation, a technology for which Hitachi received the first FDA Premarket Notification Special 510(k) clearance in 2007.

St. Jude will be Hitachi’s third proton therapy site in the United States. Construction started in 2011 on the $90 million facility, and it opened its doors to patients just a few weeks ago.

At present, 100 patients are expected in 2016 and within three years 80 percent of the research hospital’s patients will shift to proton therapy, Dr. Thomas Merchant, chairman of the St. Jude Department of Radiation Oncology, told the Commercial Appeal, Memphis.

“The center is a one-of-a-kind patient resource that will help advance care for pediatric brain and solid tumors,” said Masaya Watanabe, CEO of the Healthcare Group and Healthcare Company at Hitachi, Ltd.

The center was sponsored in part by Red Dog Events, a Chicago-based firm that committed in 2013 to raise $25 million for the center. Red Frog founder Joe Reynolds and his co-chief executive officer, Ryan Kunkel, have already raised $12.6 million of the total promised, according to the Appeal.

The proton center effort began in 2008. In the interim, an agreement was struck between St. Jude and the University of Florida Health Proton Therapy Institute to permit those in need of treatment to receive it there. That effort was prompted by concern by Marlo Thomas, whose father, legendary entertainer Danny Thomas, founded St. Jude.

With the official opening of the proton therapy facility, St. Jude embarks on a five-year plan that includes $1.17 billion of new capital expenditures.

Rad Oncology Homepage