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In 1992, IUCF constructed its first proton therapy treatment room. The therapy beam line and supporting positioning devices were constructed to carry out an emergency treatment on a patient presenting with astrocytoma. This effort was followed up by the construction of a free-standing eye clinic designed in collaboration with the School of Optometry and the Department of Ophthalmology and Indiana University. The purpose of the clinic was twofold: to support a phase 3 clinical trial of proton therapy for treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration and to create a small-scale, free-standing proton therapy clinic. The design, construction and operation of the clinic would preface the Proton Therapy System project that was envisioned for the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI).

First Proton Therapy Line

Dr. Morphis with his patient at IUCF, positioned for treatment.

In late 1992, an oncologist at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Dr. Jim Morphis, was introduced to a 22 year old patient who was afflicted with an aggressive brain tumor - an astrocytoma. Dr. Morphis consulted with a clinical medical physicist, George Sandison, and together they agreed that the best treatment for this young man would be proton therapy. Charles Bloch, a medical physicist at IUCF, agreed to develop a proton therapy treatment facility at IUCF and, with the help of the IU School of Medicine, to secure the University, State and Federal approvals necessary to treat the patient's tumor with proton radiation. Successful therapy was delivered as several treatment fractions in 1993.

AMD Clinical Trial

In 1997, the physicists at IUCF began collaboration with IU optometrists and ophthalmologists who were interested in testing the effectiveness or proton radiation treatment for Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). AMD is responsible for the majority of vision loss in elderly Americans. Over 70% of Americans over the age of 65 will suffer from AMD. There has been some evidence that radiation may be effective at disrupting the vascular component of this disease, and that proton radiation - with its reduced dose to healthy tissue - would be safer and more effective than standard radiation.

IUCF was interested in supporting this clinical trial as part of the facility's development of a free-standing proton therapy facility. Chuck Bloch led the clinic development and construction project. The School of Optometry consulted with IUCF during construction (Doug Horner pictured far right).The clinic consisted of a preparation lab, an examination room, a therapy delivery station, and a treatment room. During the clinical trial, the clinic was staffed by two physicians from Clarian Hospitals, Jim Morphis and Newell Pugh, two ophthalmologists, Tom Ciulla and Ron Danis (pictured at far left), two medical physicists, Susan Klein (pictured second from left) and Chuck Bloch (pictured third from left). The trial continued for just over two years with the patient follow-up period lasting for an additional year. The results were published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology (134:905-6, 2002).