Loma Linda University Medical Center

As the nation prepares to honor its military this Veteran’s Day, physician-scientists at Loma Linda University Cancer Center’s (LLUCC’s) James M. Slater, M.D., Proton Treatment & Research Center are studying how proton therapy can be used to help relieve chronic pain afflicting hundreds of thousands of U.S. military service members and veterans.

For more than three decades various forms of robotics have been effectively applied in healthcare to advance different types of medical treatment and surgical processes. Now, the nation’s first robotic positioning arm for proton therapy is being used by Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC) to provide physicians improved access to tumors typically regarded as difficult to reach and treat.

June 28, 2012 — When a newly diagnosed cancer patient is considering treatment options, proton therapy might not be the first course that comes to mind. Yet over the past two decades proton therapy has continued to evolve as a viable alternative to chemotherapy and a less-invasive procedure than radiation or surgery, so much so that proton therapy is now considered the preferred course of treatment for many doctors and patients in the fight against cancer.