DRISCOLL.
qxd:Layout 1 1/19/09 4:11 PM Page 116
L.F. DRISCOLL–MCKISSACK JV
“the center is a five-level structure above
Civic Center Blvd., mediating the height
of the building to the adjacent tall struc-
tures and creating an inviting plaza at
ground level that is protected from the
environments,” UPHS notes.
The building consists of two interlocking
L-shaped buildings, which together form a
“U.” One L-shaped building houses the
Abramson Cancer Center with the other
containing cancer and cardiology services.
Public spaces, waiting areas and clinical
offices are situated around the perimeter.
At the roof of the atrium is a conference
center and administrative suite connected
to the “U” building by glass bridges.
Wave of the Future
One of the most anticipated features of
the center will be the Roberts Proton
Therapy Center, which the joint venture
is also constructing. This 75,000-square-
foot center will be fully integrated into the
main healthcare center. The center, which
opens in 2009, was financed in part by a
gift of $15 million from University of
Pennsylvania alumni Ralph J. Roberts and
his son, Brian L. Roberts. The gift will help
finance the construction and equipment
for the center.
“The philanthropy of Ralph and Brian
Roberts will be a legacy of life and hope
for cancer patients in the Philadelphia
area and beyond,” said Amy Gutmann,
president of the University of Pennsylvania,
in a press release. “It will be the jewel
in the crown of PENN Medicine’s can-
cer treatment facilities, bestowing healing
treatment for a deadly disease that is diag-
nosed in over one million new patients
each year.”
As the largest of only six proton therapy
centers in the world, the facility features a
220-ton particle accelerator (cyclotron),
manufactured by Ion Beam Application
S.A., based in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. It
will cost approximately $140 million. In
January 2008, the cyclotron was delivered
to the center via police escort, USPS says.
The cyclotron’s job is to accelerate atoms to
near light speeds to create a beam of ener-
gy that can be targeted to kill cancerous
tumors. The cyclotron’s energy beam will
be directed to five treatment rooms, each
more than two stories tall.
Proton therapy uses a beam of radio-
therapy to deliver protons directly to a
116 ■ WWW.CONSTRUCTION-TODAY.COM ■ FEBRUARY 2009
WHAT IS PROTON THERAPY?
According to the National Association for Proton Therapy
(NAPT), proton therapy is the most precise and advanced
form of radiation treatment today. It holds many benefits
over other forms of radiation. It primarily radiates the
tumor site, leaving surrounding healthy tissue and organs
intact. Conventional x-ray radiation often radiates healthy
tissue in its path and surrounding the tumor site. Chemo-
therapy moves throughout the entire body, unlike radia-
tion and surgery, which are considered “site-specific”
treatments.
Did you know that, according to NAPT, proton therapy:
■ Is the most precise form of radiation treatment available today? It destroys the
primary tumor site and leaves surrounding healthy tissue and organs intact and
unharmed.
■ Is non-invasive and painless? It maintains a patient’s quality-of life during treat-
ment process as an outpatient.
■ Avoids the usual side
effects of standard x-ray
radiation? There are min-
imum to no side effects
with protons. It is a highly
effective treatment for
wide range of localized
tumors in head and neck
area, lung, prostate,
bladder, spinal cord, gas-
tro malignancies, and
Operating proton centers can ocular tumors, among
treat 150 to 200 patients daily. others. Reserachers are
working on treating
breast cancer with small protocols utilizing a new scanning technique, and women
with breast cancer can avoid damage to lungs and surrounding breast tissue
by using proton therapy treatment.
■ Protons can be used in conjunction with other cancer treatment modalities such
as chemotherapy?
■ As of mid-2008, nearly 20,000 patients had been treated in the United States’ first
hospital-based proton center, which opened in 1990 at Loma Linda University
Medical Center in Loma Linda, Calif.? Operating proton centers can treat 150 to 200
patients daily.
tumor. It is effective because it accurately permits a higher and safer dose of tumor-
targets and kills tumors, whether they’re killing radiation to be delivered to a cancer
close to the skin or deeper in the body, site. The proton therapy center is projected
without severely damaging otherwise to treat about 3,000 patients annually, and
healthy tissues. With conventional radia- will have five treatment rooms, four
tion, of cancers sometimes return because gantries, one beam-fixed room and a
the dose is too low. Proton beam therapy research room. ■
ADT ADVANCED INTEGRATION
ADT Advanced Integration would like to congratulate the University of Pennsylvania Health System for this monu-
mental achievement. It was a great honor and privilege for us to be selected as the security integrator of choice for
this landmark facility that we feel will change the way medicine is practiced worldwide.