Courtesy of Governor's Office
Courtesy of Governor's Office
In a couple of years, Arkansas residents who need proton therapy, an alternative to radiation that targets especially difficult-to-reach tumors, will no longer have to leave the state to get it.
"UAMS – University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is breaking new ground with a state-of-the-art radiation center & Arkansas's 1st proton-therapy center," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a May 26 Facebook post. "Arkansans will no longer have to leave the state for treatment. Great groundbreaking ceremony. Great partnership with Arkansas Children's, Baptist Health, & Proton International."
Hutchinson's post came a day after he participated in ceremonies in Little Rock for UAMS' expansion of its Radiation Oncology Center, which will house the state's first Proton Center.
The center, part of UAMS' Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, provides cutting-edge technologies in the latest radiation treatments and the expansion will provide for three new linear accelerators, the university said in a news release issued May 25.
Proton therapy is a radiation therapy alternative that uses precisely focused, high-energy beams to target tumors, often those in hard-to-reach areas, without collateral damage to surrounding tissue. Solid cancer tumors, including brain, spine, head and neck, lung, prostate, colon and some breast tumors, respond especially well to proton therapy.
The expansion includes the center's relocation in 2023 to a new 52,249 square-foot-building on Capitol Avenue between Pine and Cedar streets.
"We are fortunate that UAMS continues to broaden the medical-care horizons in Arkansas," Hutchinson said in the University's news release. "High-tech advances such as the Proton Center will provide first-rate care for more people as well as attract even more world-class doctors and researchers as UAMS continues its pursuit of the National Cancer Institute Designation."
The partnership Hutchinson mentioned in his social media post "ensures that Arkansas will continue to be a place of healing for thousands of cancer patients," he said.
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