The ProCure Proton Therapy Center of New Jersey, the third in a national network being developed by ProCure Treatment Centers, opened on March 20.
The center was built through an alliance between ProCure, CentraState Healthcare System, and Princeton Radiation Oncology.
Located in Somerset, the 60,000-sq-ft treatment center includes a gantry room, a fixed-beam room, and two inclined-beam rooms that incorporate robotic patient positioning systems. The facility is equipped with proton therapy equipment from Ion Beam Applications (IBA), including the IBA 230-MeV fixed-energy isochronous cyclotron.
The $160 million center has also deployed several electronic information systems to operate a paperless work environment. VisionTree Optimal Care from VisionTree Software is a patient management, documentation, and communication system specifically designed to mange patient/provider oncology workflow. The Mosaiq oncology information system from Elekta is being used for patient's electronic medical records.
For imaging and treatment planning tools, the center is using the VeriSuite patient position and verification system for particle therapy systems from MedCom, and FocalSim and XiO, a 3D intensity-modulated radiotherapy treatment planning system, from Computerized Medical Systems.
The center plans to treat both adult and pediatric patients for brain, central nervous system, gastrointestinal, head and neck, lung, or prostate cancer. Once fully operational, it will have the capacity to treat up to 1,500 patients a year by a staff of 100, including eight radiation oncologists, 30 radiation therapists, 10 medical physicists, 10 medical dosimetrists, and five registered nurses. Its medical director is radiation oncologist Dr. Brian Chon.
