RTKL To Design Proton Therapy Facility

RTKL, the global architecture, planning and design firm, continues its reputation for innovative healthcare architecture with the commission to design a proton therapy facility in Irving, Texas. Baylor Health Enterprises, an affiliate of Baylor Health Care System; Dallas-based Texas Oncology; and The US Oncology Network, a business unit of McKesson Specialty Health, announced last Friday that the Irving-Las Colinas area was chosen as the site for the $105 million innovative proton therapy facility to serve the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Construction is expected to begin on the new 50,000-square-foot Irving facility in the spring of 2013, with an opening date set for late 2015. RTKL has emerged as a leader in the design of facilities for this advanced form of radiation therapy, which uses high-energy beams to treat cancerous tumors and has shown fewer side effects than traditional radiation.

 

The new facility will house the most advanced features and capabilities for cancer treatment. It will include a proton cyclotron, two isocentric-gantry treatment rooms, a fixed-beam treatment room and advanced image guidance technology. Such technology enables proton therapy to focus radiation precisely to very small parts of the body, an approach that has been effective in treating certain pediatric and adult cancers, including tumors in the brain, head and neck, lung and prostate. 

 

The facility will provide services through Texas Oncology and will afford patients the opportunity to participate in advanced clinical trials in partnership with the US Oncology Network. Texas Oncology is a member of The US Oncology Network, which includes privately held community-based oncology practices across the country that may also refer patients to the facility.

 

This new commission builds on RTKL’s previous proton therapy experience. Last year, the firm was tasked in designing Michigan’s first proton facility, the 40,000-square-foot McLaren Proton Therapy Center, which will open in late 2012 in Flint.