First Pediatric Patient Treated on Mevion S250 Proton Therapy System

February 28, 2014 — A 6-year-old with a highly malignant medulloblastoma brain tumor is the first pediatric patient treated using the Mevion S250 proton therapy system at Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis. This milestone event marks the first pediatric case ever treated on the world’s only single-room proton therapy system.

The Mevion S250 proton therapy system is a wholly unique proton therapy platform — a single-room, gantry-mounted proton accelerator that frees hospitals and private treatment facilities from the astronomical costs, prohibitive space requirements and technologically cumbersome systems that to date have defined this effective treatment modality.

The clinical team at S. Lee Kling Proton Therapy Center at Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, along with doctors at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, is using the Mevion S250 for the treatment of brain, head and neck, and pediatric tumors, as well as other proton therapy indications.

Proton therapy delivers precise doses of radiation while limiting unnecessary radiation to healthy tissues, potentially reducing side effects and improving patient outcomes. “We selected proton therapy to be a part of this patient’s treatment plan due to the child’s age and the location of the tumor,” said Stephanie Perkins, M.D., a Washington University radiation oncologist at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “Today's treatment lasted less than 45 minutes with the radiation beam hitting the tumor from three directions."

Mevion’s ability to provide this advanced treatment in a compact and integrated form is an industry first, leading the way in providing patients and clinicians’ access to the advanced treatment techniques proton therapy delivers in a far more cost-effective manner.

Five additional Mevion S250 proton therapy systems are under installation at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J.; Stephenson Cancer Center at the University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City; First Coast Oncology in Jacksonville, Fla.; University of Florida Health Cancer Center at Orlando Health; and University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland.

For more information: www.mevion.com