Roberts Proton Therapy Center
Proton therapy is an innovative form of radiation treatment that allows for a more precisely targeted radiation dose delivered to cancerous tumors. The Cancer Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) offers proton therapy for children in collaboration with the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at the Roberts Proton Therapy Center.
Radiation therapy, while helpful in treating the tumor, often comes with side effects, some of which can be very harmful to young children.
Proton therapy’s greatest benefit is that it is less damaging to the surrounding healthy tissue because it delivers most of the treatment dose to a very narrow field at the location of the tumor. The treatment is particularly beneficial for children, as less damage to healthy tissue — especially critical organs like the brain, heart, lungs and eyes — means greater chances of curing disease while limiting side effects.
With access to the resources of two top-ranked health systems and cancer centers — Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania — children receiving proton therapy here are cared for by an extensive team of experts in the field of medical and radiation oncology. When necessary, your child’s cancer treatment team can consult with other world-renowned CHOP subspecialists at any time.
Conditions We Treat
Brain and central nervous system tumors
- Astrocytoma
- Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors (ATRT)
- Craniopharyngioma
- Ependymoma
- Germ cell tumors (choriocarcinoma, teratoma, germinoma)
- Glioma (glioblastoma, low-grade glioma)
- Medulloblastoma
- Meningioma
- Optic nerve tumors
- Optic pathway/hypothalamic glioma
- Pineoblastoma
- Primitive neuro-ectodermal tumor (intracranial PNET)
Solid tumors
- Chondrosarcoma
- Chordoma
- Ewing sarcoma
- Head and neck carcinomas (parotid, nasopharyngeal)
- Neuroblastoma
- Osteosarcoma
- Retinoblastoma
- Rhabdomyosarcoma (and other soft tissue sarcomas)
- Soft tissue sarcomas (rhabdomyosarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, liposarcoma, fibrosarcoma, synovial sarcoma)
- Tumors of the head and neck
- Wilms' tumor
Lymphoma
- Hodgkin
- Non-Hodgkin
