Government commits to Proton Beam Therapy at UCLH

Public Health Minister Anna Soubry has announced a commitment of £250 million of funding for state-of-the-art Proton Beam Therapy cancer treatment centres in London and Manchester. The centres will be established at University College Hospital and The Christie in Manchester, making this advanced form of radiotherapy available in the UK for the first time. UCL is working with UCLH on the construction of the London facility, accompanied by an extensive research programme to improve this cutting-edge cancer treatment. Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) is a much more precise way of targeting tumours. With conventional radiotherapy, X-rays not only damage the tumour but also the surrounding tissue, which can have significant side-effects. Protons, however, deposit much more energy exactly where it is needed, destroying the malignant cells but sparing much more of the surrounding healthy tissue. This is most important for deep-lying tumours growing near highly sensitive tissue, such as the optic nerve and the brain, particularly when treating children.