Recently, Dr. Allan Thornton of Massachusetts General Hospital's Northeast Proton Therapy Center agreed to serve as MPRI's first clinical director. The room is being converted into one of two multi-use treatment rooms with the capacity to treat both large and small field targets. Beginning next year, the cyclotron will continuously deliver a 205 MeV beam that can be switched into any of four individual treat-ment or experimental rooms on demand. The energy will be be adjusted at the room according to delivery specifications. Over the past two years, the accelerator has been used in a clinical trial evaluating proton therapy for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
Macular degeneration is a common degenerative condition in the retina of the eye.
There is no known cure for this disease and it usually leads to blindness. This study was carried out in collaboration with the Department of Ophthalmology at the IU Medical School, the IU School of Optometry, and radiation oncologists from Methodist and IU hospitals in Indianapolis. The clinical phase is now completed, and the results look quite promising, not only in postponing the loss of vision, but also in showing improved vision in some cases. Another medical study has been going on since September 1999. This involves something called non-invasive proton beam myocardial revascularization.