Inside the Roberts Proton Therapy Center

We hosted a group of more than 25 journalists this morning from the Association of Health Care Journalists meeting being held this week here in Philly. One of their stops on our medical campus was to the Roberts Proton Therapy Center, where they were guided by Dr. Zelig Tochner, the medical director of proton therapy in Penn's department of Radiation Oncology.

The Roberts Proton Center has been open for over a year now, and we've been talking to the media about it since the $15 million gift from the Roberts Family that helped build the center was announced back in 2006, when construction began. Over time, questions from the media have shifted -- to those about what this technology actually is, and how it's different from conventional, x-ray radiation -- to more nuanced queries, such as those discussed by reporters today. Among their questions: Since we're one of just a few centers -- and in some cases, the only one -- using proton therapy for certain cancers that are hard to treat with conventional radiation, how do our doctors determine which patients are the most appropriate candidates for the therapy? How does proton therapy make it easier to combine radiation with chemotherapy or surgical treatments? In 10 or 20 years, will proton therapy replace conventional radiation entirely?

From the treatment planning room to the enorrmous, three-story steel gantry that makes up each treatment room in the center to the space-aged, circular tube in which patients lay to receive their treatment, reporters in attendance snapped pictures and eagerly asked questions. If you weren't there but would like to know more about what our radiation oncologists are doing to study and refine the best, most safe uses of proton therapy for cancers, let us know! In the meantime, my colleagues and I will continue Tweeting from the AHCJ conference tomorrow -- follow along with us @pennmedmedia.