Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Works in Progress

The High-Tech, Big-Footprint Cancer Center

When it starts taking patients in February 2019, the New York Proton Center will be the first of its kind in the state.Credit...Joshua Bright for The New York Times

At a construction site on 126th Street in East Harlem, what is being built could be a matter of life and death to those who visit.

It is the New York Proton Center, and when it starts taking patients in February 2019, it will be the first of its kind in the state, providing specialized radiation treatment for children with cancer, those suffering from head and neck cancers and other tumors that require pinpoint treatment to avoid damage to surrounding tissues and organs.

Doctors in New York City currently have to send patients to Philadelphia, Boston or New Jersey. The closest proton center is about an hour away in Somerset, N.J.

“That is a challenge,” said Dr. Simon N. Powell of Memorial Sloan Kettering, part of a team of three radiation oncologists developing the center. “It basically stopped some patients from getting that type of therapy.”

Image
A model of the treatment rooms.Credit...Joshua Bright for The New York Times

Proton therapy, which generally costs twice as much as traditional radiation, requires a large investment — not just in technology but in real estate. Proton beams must travel horizontally on a level plain, requiring a long open space. For a building of 140,000 square feet, the Proton Center will have a large footprint, without the typical height of a New York City building.

“It’s just a difficult issue in a congested metropolitan area to find an acre of property,” said Norton L. Travis, the spokesman for the Proton Center. “One that will have good access for patients.”

The $300-million, three-story center has been in development for eight years, though construction didn’t start until July 2015. The Proton Center is made up of a consortium of three of New York’s leading cancer treatment providers — Sloan Kettering, Mt. Sinai and Montefiore Health System. Coming together to purchase and share the expensive equipment made the project financially viable.

Forty percent of the construction cost is in the equipment needed for treatment, said Mr. Travis. An 80-ton cyclotron — the particle accelerator that generates the protons — was assembled in Germany, shipped to the United States, and lowered into the building in October. The beam transport system, electromagnets that steer the protons through a vacuum to the four treatment rooms, have also been delivered and are currently being set up.

But the biggest part of the puzzle are the gantries — the large cylindrical areas where the patients are treated. They each weigh 280 tons and rotate 360 degrees, delivering to a patient a precise beam for only one or two minutes a day over a four- to six-week period. Unlike surgery or a one-time procedure, proton therapy — like chemotherapy and other radiation — requires a commitment over time. So having a facility close to where the patient lives is important.

“It’s better to be able to go back to their own homes rather than stay in a hotel in Pennsylvania or another state,” said James Patchett, president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, which helped secure the site for the project.

Image
Electromagnets that steer the protons through a vacuum to the treatment rooms were recently delivered to the center.Credit...Joshua Bright for The New York Times

There are 25 other proton centers in the United States, with 11 new ones under construction, including the facility in New York.

Though the treatment is more expensive for insurers, the cost savings comes in the long run, said Dr. Kenneth Rosenzweig of Mt. Sinai, part of the team working on the project. “If we can limit side effects and limit cancer coming back, it’s going to be a benefit, in quality of life and in the cost,” he said. People who have already undergone extensive radiation are prime candidates for proton treatment, since there’s a limited amount of radiation that a body can endure.

Also, children with cancer who receive radiation have a high incidence of recurrence and of side effects because their bodies are much smaller and the target for treatment is harder to pinpoint. So proton therapy makes sense in pediatric cases, Mr. Travis said.

In the past, proton therapy was used largely to treat prostate cancer, because of the ability to limit the area affected by the radiation. But recently, the technology has advanced, and the applications for using it have widened to other types of cancer.

Dr. Powell said that around 400 patients were sent to New Jersey for treatment this past year from Sloan Kettering. The new center is expected to treat around 1,400 patients annually.

The consortium had looked at placing the center in the suburbs or in a rural area in New York, but was determined to keep it within the city, where access would be key. “When you’re talking about a city as large as New York,” said Dr. Rosenzweig, “even a small percentage is a large number.”

The Particulars

Project New York Proton Center

Site 225 East 126 Street in East Harlem

In the works Since 2009

Cost $300 million

Driving forces Doctors and administrators from Memorial Sloan Kettering, Mt. Sinai and Montefiore as well as the city’s Economic Development Corporation

Biggest obstacle Finding real estate in New York City to accommodate the center’s large equipment

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section MB, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Cancer Care With a Big Footprint. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT