The Johns Hopkins National Proton Therapy Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital opened its door the Fall of 2019.  Proton therapy is an advanced and highly precise radiation treatment for tumors and compared to other methods, focuses more energy on the tumor itself with less radiation to surrounding healthy tissue. 

Proton beams can be used to treat:

• Sarcomas, particularly those in the base of the skull, spine or the retroperitoneum
• Breast cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Rhabdomyosarcoma, melanoma and other cancers around the eye
• Lung cancer and other thoracic cancers such as lymphoma or thymoma
• Head and neck cancer
• Liver cancer
• Pancreatic cancer
• Benign tumors

Lillie Shockney interviews radiation oncologist Akila Viswanathan, who is the interim director for Johns Hopkins Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, the director for the National Capital Region for radiation oncology, and a professor of radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences for Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.