Scripps Health - All News for Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas

Scripps to Host Cancer Survivors Day Celebrations in June

2012-05-08T13:03:08-07:00

Scripps Cancer Center will host free public celebrations throughout the month of June for local cancer survivors, their families, friends and the community at large at each of its four hospitals across San Diego County, in conjunction with the 25th annual National Cancer Survivors Day.

The programs are open to all residents who have a history of cancer (and their guests), regardless of where patients received their treatment. Events will include presentations on the latest advancements in cancer treatments, inspirational stories of survival, refreshments and opportunities to connect with caregivers and fellow survivors. More information on events is available by calling 1-800-SCRIPPS.

Scripps Green Hospital – Sunday, June 10, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Valerie Timken Amphitheater, 10666 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, Calif. 92037. Register by calling 858-554-8533.

Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla – Tuesday, June 12, 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Schaetzel Center, 9888 Genesee Ave., La Jolla, Calif. 92037. Register by calling 1-800-SCRIPPS.

Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas – Saturday, June 23, 10 a.m. to noon. Scripps Encinitas Conference Center, 354 Santa Fe Drive, Encinitas, Calif. 92024. Register by calling 1-800-SCRIPPS.

Scripps Mercy Hospital – Saturday, June 30, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Our Lady’s Chapel, 4077 Fifth Ave., San Diego, Calif. 92103. Register by calling 1-800-SCRIPPS.

Cancer care at Scripps is provided through Scripps Cancer Center, a nationally recognized leader in cancer care, providing comprehensive care at Scripps’ four hospitals and various Scripps Clinic locations. With more than 300 affiliated physicians, Scripps Cancer Center seeks to provide the best possible treatment and cutting-edge research trials for patients by coordinating medical expertise in the areas of clinical cancer care, community outreach and clinical, translational and basic research.

Scripps is the only cancer care provider in San Diego to earn network accreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer. Scripps Polster Breast Care Center at Scripps La Jolla, the Breast Care Center at Scripps Green Hospital and the breast care programs at Scripps Encinitas and Scripps Mercy Chula Vista have earned accreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ National Accreditation Program for Breast Cancer Centers (NAPBC). The radiation oncology department at Scripps Green Hospital has earned accreditation in radiation therapy from the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) and the American College of Radiology (ACR).

Scripps Announces Arrival of San Diego’s First 3-D Mammography Technology

2012-05-01T10:31:31-07:00

Encinitas, Calif. – San Diegans now have access to a new, highly advanced breast cancer diagnostic tool that improves the clarity and reliability of test results, with Scripps Health’s recent acquisition of 3-D digital breast tomosynthesis technology.

Scripps recently began using the software with patients at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas and plans to expand it to more of its facilities. Scripps is San Diego County’s only health care provider to offer 3-D mammography technology, which was approved by the FDA in February 2011. In California, only four other health care facilities currently offer this technology.

Used with existing digital mammography equipment, the breast tomosynthesis software utilizes high-powered computing to convert digital breast images into a stack of very thin layers, which creates a 3-D reconstruction of the breast. The 3-D model allows the physician to examine breast tissue 1 millimeter at a time.

This approach stands in contrast to the flat images produced by traditional 2-D digital mammography, which generates overlapping images that can appear cloudy. Overlapping can cause problems such as obscuring signs of cancer, or mimicking signs of a tumor where none exists.

“When it comes to breast imaging, less tissue overlap translates into clearer images of the patient’s tissue, which allows for a more definitive diagnosis,” said Dr. Kris Van Lom, chairman of the department of radiology at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas. “Having a more reliable view of the breast tissue will help us be more effective in discovering early-stage breast cancers, while in some cases reducing the number of ‘false positives’ and the need for additional tests or biopsies.”

Any patient requiring a breast exam can benefit from breast tomosynthesis. The technology is being made available to all breast imaging patients at Scripps Encinitas, and educational materials are provided to all patients in advance.

A tomosynthesis exam is very similar to a traditional digital mammogram in both time and format. The technologist positions the patient, compresses the breast under a paddle and takes images from different angles. During the tomosynthesis portion of the exam, the X-ray arm of the mammography machine makes a quick arc over the breast, taking a series of breast images at a number of angles.

In the United States, breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death among women, exceeded only by lung cancer. The stage at which breast cancer is detected influences a woman’s chance of survival. If found and treated early while still localized in the breast, the 10-year survival rate for breast cancer is greater than 90 percent.

By June 2012, Scripps also plans to have tomosynthesis technology available for patients at Scripps Polster Breast Care Center at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.

The addition of digital breast tomosynthesis is the latest example of technological advances in cancer care at Scripps. Currently under construction are the Scripps Proton Therapy Center (expected to open in April 2013) and the Scripps Radiation Treatment Center (expected to open in August 2012), both of which will featuring the latest technology for patient care.

Scripps is the only cancer care provider in San Diego to earn network accreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer. Scripps Polster Breast Care Center at Scripps La Jolla and the Breast Care Center at Scripps Green Hospital have earned accreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ National Accreditation Program for Breast Cancer Centers (NAPBC). The Breast Care Center at Scripps Green Hospital has also earned accreditation in radiation therapy from the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) and the American College of Radiology (ACR).

About Scripps Health

Learn more about Scripps Health.

Groundbreaking Marks Major Step for North County Hospital Expansion

2012-04-27T09:00:25-07:00

Expansion plans at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas took a major step forward with today’s groundbreaking of a Critical Care Building, which will more than double the size of the hospital’s current emergency department and increase the number of medical-surgical beds by 43 percent.

The Critical Care Building is the centerpiece of the hospital’s $94 million second phase of expansion, which also includes a new central energy plant and various infrastructure improvements on and around the medical campus.

Meeting the health care needs of North County

The population of the hospital’s surrounding area has increased by more than 20 percent during the past decade, according to the San Diego Association of Governments. During the same time period, the overall number of annual patient visits to the hospital has also increased by more than 20 percent. The Critical Care Building will be the first patient care facility to be built at Scripps Encinitas since 1992.

“This expansion will help fill a critical community need by broadening our staff’s capacity to treat a growing number of patients,” said Chris Van Gorder, president and chief executive officer of Scripps Health. “Our patients will notice a more comfortable and private environment and our staff will have more space to deliver care with even greater efficiency.”

The Critical Care Building and central energy plant are being built on the site of a former parking lot on the southwest part of the hospital campus. Totaling 61,643 square feet, the two-story Critical Care Building is expected to be open for patient care by early summer 2014.

The Critical Care Building’s first floor will house a 27-bed emergency department, with all private rooms for greater patient confidentiality and comfort. The new facility will replace Scripps Encinitas’ current 12-bed emergency department.

“This new building is much needed, especially when you consider that the number of annual patient visits to our emergency department has grown by more than 50 percent
during the past decade,” said Thomas Chippendale, MD, the hospital’s chief of staff.

The Critical Care Building’s second floor will be home to 36 medical-surgical inpatient beds, which are used by patients who are recovering from surgery or are recuperating from acute illnesses. Medical-surgical beds are also used by those admitted as inpatients via the emergency department—and since approximately 70 percent of the hospital’s inpatients are admitted through the ER, having more of these beds available will help improve the flow of emergency care.

Expanded inpatient care

All medical-surgical beds will be in private rooms and will offer window views and ample space so friends and family can visit or stay overnight. The 36 new medical-surgical beds will represent an addition to the hospital’s existing quantity of 83. Medical-surgical beds constitute the largest category of inpatient beds at Scripps Encinitas. Inpatient beds are also found in the hospital’s intensive care unit, rehabilitation department and mother-baby pavilion.

“With our existing space constraints and the rising volume of patients, we’ve been operating at maximum capacity for several years now,” said Dr. Ron MacCormick, a 32-year veteran of Scripps and medical director of the hospital’s emergency department. “This expansion will bring our facilities in line with the future needs of the community.”

Technology inside the Critical Care Building will include new MRI, CT scanner and diagnostic X-ray units. All patient rooms on both floors will also have access to a telemetry system to provide continuous wireless monitoring of patient vital signs.

The Critical Care Building also will offer improved access for first responders, with six ambulance bays—triple the number currently available. The roof will include a helipad, which will be used primarily for transporting patients out of the hospital to a designated trauma center, or for transporting newborns in distress to Rady Children’s Hospital.

The project also includes construction of a 10,678-square-foot, high-efficiency central energy plant, which will be the new primary source of utilities serving future patient care facilities on campus.

A comforting place to heal

A series of garden areas for families and staff are designed as part of the ground level between the new building and existing hospital. A terraced roof garden on the building’s second level will be planted with drought-tolerant native grasses and succulents, offering a green buffer from the hospital roof. This green roof will also capture and use rainwater falling on the roof to create non-medical oxygen, while lowering the temperature of warm spots. Other roof areas are treated with a white reflective material to minimize heat gain.

The building is designed to reflect its coastline setting. The west-facing exterior will feature a series of panels that resemble sails on the water, while the east-facing side will include landscaped gardens and planted terraces reminiscent of the nearby hillsides. The interior design will carry a beach theme, with sand-colored flooring and countertops with sea shell accents. Interior walls will feature glass accent tiles and colors in blues, greens and whites, to evoke the tranquility of the ocean.

Fundraising initiative to improve hospital access

Costs to build and equip the campus expansion will be funded through a combination of philanthropic gifts, income from operations and debt financing.

Scripps recently launched a grassroots campaign to encourage donations from local residents to support this important expansion. This public fundraising drive—the 354 Campaign—seeks to raise $1 million in donations ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 to complement Scripps’ ongoing philanthropic outreach efforts. More information on giving opportunities is available at Campaignforscrippsencinitas.org.

Whiting-Turner Contracting is the general contractor for the Critical Care Building, and Perkins + Will is the architect. The project is expected to create approximately 200 jobs at the peak of construction.

The first phase of expansion at Scripps Encinitas included construction of an 884-space parking structure, which opened in spring 2011. As part of the second phase of expansion, Scripps will provide more than $4 million in public infrastructure improvements at the requirement of the city of Encinitas. These include enhancements to Devonshire Drive and the southbound Interstate 5 off-ramp at Santa Fe Drive. The master plan for expansion at Scripps Encinitas was approved in 2009 by the city of Encinitas.

About Scripps Health

Learn more about Scripps Health, a nonprofit integrated health system based in San Diego, Calif.

Scripps Participates in National Prescription Drug Take Back

2012-04-19T13:09:03-07:00

Scripps as part of the nationwide prescription drug take back day will host five drop-off locations in San Diego County. On Saturday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., personnel will be available to accept unused prescription drugs from people who want to dispose of their medications safely and anonymously at the following Scripps Health locations:

Scripps Coastal Medical Center Carlsbad
2176 Salk Ave., Carlsbad

Scripps Clinic Rancho Bernardo
15004 Innovation Drive, San Diego

Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas
354 Santa Fe Drive, Encinitas

Scripps Green Hospital
10666 N. Torrey Pines Rd., La Jolla

Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista
435 H Street, Chula Vista

The San Diego Sheriff’s Department offers 23 locations in the community where the public can drop off unused drugs for proper disposal anytime of year. Visit the San Diego Sheriff’s Department website to find a location near you.

Be Smart About Medication Storage and Disposal

2012-04-18T15:10:09-07:00

By Victoria Serrano Adams, PharmD, Scripps Health

When used as directed, prescription medications can save lives. However, if they are used incorrectly, they also can be deadly.

Improper use of medications—whether accidental or intentional—can be extremely dangerous. Brightly colored capsules or tiny tablets can look like candy to young children. Depending on the drug, even just a few pills can have serious consequences. An overdose of commonly prescribed sedatives or the anti-anxiety medications, such as Xanax® or Ativan®, can cause extreme drowsiness, confusion, muscle weakness, coma, or death. Vicodin®, often prescribed to treat pain, can slow heart rate and breathing to dangerously low levels.

Children are not the only ones at risk. The use of drugs like Vicodin®, Ativan® and others not as prescribed—or without a prescription at all— is a serious and growing problem among both adults and adolescents.

That’s why it is vitally important to ensure your prescription medications don’t get into the wrong hands. Store all medications in a safe place; if you have any concerns about kids or adults finding them, keep them in a locked cabinet or box. Avoid potentially dangerous mix-ups by keeping drugs in their original, clearly labeled containers. Using a travel-size aspirin container to store prescription painkillers, for example, can have serious consequences if someone with a mild headache is looking for aspirin.

Do not share medications, even if family members or friends have the same symptoms. Many conditions with similar symptoms require vastly different treatment. In addition, a medication prescribed for one person can be dangerous if given to another person who has a different medical history, medication allergies or risk of side effects.Sharing prescription medications is very risky, and can be illegal.

Maintain a record of your prescriptions and the quantities you should have on hand so that you know when pills are missing. When you order refills, check with the pharmacy to ensure no one else has refilled the prescription, and ensure only the patient (or a parent) is authorized to order and pick up refills.

Examine unfamiliar packages that come to your home via the mail or a delivery service, especially if they are unmarked or from another country. Unfortunately, the explosion of unregulated Internet pharmacies has made it relatively easy to order medications online, including controlled substances, without a prescription.

Check to make sure prescription medications are not expired or damaged. All prescription drugs have an expiration date on the label, after which they can lose effectiveness or even become harmful. Expired tetracycline, for example, can cause a deadly syndrome resulting in kidney damage. Take inventory of your medicines every few months and dispose of any that are expired. Also discard any medications that are discolored, crumbly, or powdery, regardless of the expiration date.

Finally, dispose of drugs safely. Don’t just toss them into the trash, where children, animals and anyone looking for discarded drugs can find them. While flushing unwanted medications down the toilet or sink drain may seem like a safer alternative, it isn’t. Dissolved medications can contaminate drinking water, be ingested by the public, and harm natural aquatic habitats.

Instead, take unwanted medications to designated collection sites, where they will be disposed of according to state and federal laws. On Saturday, April 28, Scripps will be collecting unwanted and expired medications as part of the countywide Prescription Take Back Day. Medications will be accepted with no questions asked; however, sharps (needles) cannot be accepted. Drop off your medications between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at any of the following Scripps locations:

•Scripps Coastal Medical Center Carlsbad
2176 Salk Ave., Carlsbad

•Scripps Clinic Rancho Bernardo
15004 Innovation Drive, San Diego

•Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas
354 Santa Fe Drive, Encinitas

•Scripps Green Hospital
10666 N. Torrey Pines Rd., La Jolla

•Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista
435 H Street, Chula Vista

Additional drop off sites are available at http://1.usa.gov/HLzHVq. Can’t make it on April 28? The San Diego Sheriff’s Department offers several locations in the community where the public can drop off unused drugs for proper disposal anytime of year. Visit sdsheriff.net to find a location near you.

Victoria Serrano Adams, PharmD, is a director of pharmacy with Scripps Health. “To Your Health” is brought to you by the physicians and staff of Scripps. For more information or a physician referral, please call 1-800-SCRIPPS.

New Pap Guidelines: Is The Annual Exam Gone?

2012-04-09T11:15:15-07:00

Cervical cancer was once the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in American women. In the 1930s, more American women died of cervical cancer than any other kind of cancer, including breast or lung. But in 1943, a new method for cervical screening was introduced. The Babeș-Papanicolaou test (named after physicians who pioneered the method), also called a “Pap smear” or “Pap test,” became the most successful cancer screening in history. Today, according to the American Cancer Society, there are fewer than 4,000 annual deaths due to cervical cancer, mostly among women who have never been screened.

Until now, physicians recommended that women receive an annual pap test, starting sometime in the teens. So when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a set of new guidelines for cervical cancer screening on March 15, 2012, it introduced a significant change to women’s health care routines. Now, the guidelines suggest screening should begin no earlier than age 21, and for most women over the age of 30, the tests can be safely spaced three years apart. Similar guidelines released by the American Cancer Society on March 14 support that approach.

Overscreening Causes Harm

“In the case of pap tests, it turns out that more was not better,” explains Lily Tsai, MD, a Scripps gynecologist. “In recent years, as we have come to understand the natural history of HPV infection, we’ve seen convincing evidence that over-screening can cause harm to patients, both physical and psychological.”

Nearly all cervical cancers are the result of infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV)—a fact that was not established until recently. But not all HPV infections will cause cervical cancer. “It turns out that most people fight off HPV infections naturally without intervention,” Dr. Tsai says. “So annual Paps were identifying abnormal cells at a very early stage of infection or were non-diagnostic, leading anxious patients and providers to treat them more aggressively than was necessary.”

The most common diagnostic procedure for suspicious pap results is a colposcopy, or magnified examination of the cervix. If abnormal areas are visualized, additional studies such as cervical biopsy or endocervical curettage may be performed and examined in the lab for precancerous changes. A confirmed high level abnormality often leads to a cone biopsy of the cervix to remove affected tissue.

“Treatments are not always benign. An unnecessary cone biopsy, for example, may increase one’s chance of a weaker cervix, potentially leading to problems in pregnancy” says Dr. Tsai. Plus the anxiety caused by an abnormal pap test is also significant.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended spacing these screenings for appropriate women three years apart in 2009, and the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) issued similar guidelines in 2006. The recently released guidelines are now in alignment with those developed by experts in the specialty.

Women Should Not Skip Annual Pelvic Exams

This does not mean, however, that women can skip their annual gynecological examination. “Pap tests are not the only reason to have an annual exam,” Dr. Tsai emphasizes. “Women still need to be examined yearly, either by their gynecologist or their primary care physician, for the remainder of the pelvic exam and breast exam.

The new guidelines suggest:

For women with no other risk factors, pap tests should start at age 21.
Between the ages of 21 and 30, cervical cell screening should take place at three-year intervals, with no screening for HPV.
After age 30, women should have a combined cervical smear and HPV test every five years or pap test alone every 3 years.
After the age of 65, women who have had previous normal results may discontinue pap tests.
If a woman has had serious cervical pre-cancer, she should continue being screened for 20 years after that diagnosis, even if she is past 65.
Women with additional risk factors (including previous abnormal Pap tests, exposure to diethylstilbestrol [DES] in utero, or a compromised immune system), pap tests should be more frequent.
If a woman has had a hysterectomy with removal of the cervix for benign reasons, there is no need for a Pap test.

Find an OB-GYN

If you need to find a gynecologist for regular pelvic exams, Scripps can help. Call 1-800-SCRIPPS (1-800-727-4777) to get a physician referral from a member of our call center or visit our doctor finder.

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FDA to Examine Self-Screening to Treat Disease

2012-03-19T12:29:00-07:00

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold public hearings on whether drugs commonly prescribed for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, migraine headaches and asthma should be available over the counter. Scripps cardiologist Matthew Lucks, MD, discusses the possible pitfalls of this with the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Read more of the full article at: FDA to Examine Self-Screening to Treat Disease

Scripps Health Named to Fortune Magazine’s National "100 Best Companies to Work For" List in 2012

2012-01-19T10:43:25-08:00

Scripps Health has been named to Fortune magazine’s 15th annual list of America’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Scripps ranked No. 56 on this year’s list and is the second San Diego-based company to make the list since the list’s inception in 1998, joining Qualcomm.

“Scripps is honored to be acknowledged for the fifth time by Fortune as one of America’s top employers,” said Chris Van Gorder, president and CEO of Scripps. “This accomplishment reflects the importance we place on our employees and how we strive to create a culture of excellence that makes them feel secure, appreciated and empowered.”

Fortune recognized Scripps for its practice of avoiding layoffs. In the rare occurrence that a position is eliminated at Scripps due to changing business needs, staff members can continue earning their base pay and benefits while the Scripps Career Resource Center (CRC) assists them in searching for a position within Scripps or outside of the organization.

“While other hospitals and health systems across the country have resorted to job cuts and the elimination of services during these challenging times, Scripps has made a commitment to preserving jobs and avoiding layoffs,” said Victor Buzachero, corporate senior vice president of innovation, human resources and performance management for Scripps. “The CRC has helped us retain highly skilled employees and avoid the high costs of severance pay and turnover.”

Scripps designed and implemented the CRC well before the downturn in the economy and has actively kept it in place during the recession. Since its inception, more than 700 employees have participated in the CRC with job placements in or outside of the organization.

Richelle Ward, who has worked for Scripps for 10 years, learned her department was closing in August 2010.

“The CRC helped me look for another position and provided tools and information for my job search,” said Ward. “My department was like a second family and the transition was a difficult time. However, the CRC helped me through it and I benefited from their support, knowledge and individualized assistance. In the end, I had three possible job opportunities to choose from and I love the one that I chose.”

The list will appear in the Feb. 6 issue of Fortune, and the full list is now available online. To pick the 100 Best Companies to Work For, Fortune partners with the Great Place to Work Institute to conduct the most extensive employee survey in corporate America; 280 firms participated in this year’s survey. More than 246,000 employees at those companies responded to a survey created by the institute, a global research and consulting firm operating in 45 countries around the world.

The Fortune magazine ranking comes on the heels of four other national accolades Scripps Health has received for workplace excellence. In its 2011 listing, AARP ranked Scripps at the top employer in the country for its 50 Best Employers for Workers Over 50. This was the seventh consecutive year Scripps was named to this list. Working Mother magazine named Scripps number 11 on its 2011 list of America’s 100 Best Companies for its family-friendly policies, making it the seventh consecutive year Scripps has made the list. Also in 2011, the E-Learning organization named Scripps fifth in the nation for enterprise learning and Becker’s Hospital Review named Scripps among the 100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare.

About Scripps Health

Learn more about Scripps Health, a nonprofit integrated health system based in San Diego, Calif.

Scripps Utilizes Medical Interpreters

2011-12-02T15:14:13-08:00

With the growing Latino population, the employment demand for medical interpreters is expected to increase by 22 percent in the new few years. Scripps Nurse Practitioner Teresa Newman discusses with NBC 7 how Scripps hospitals are working to prevent language barriers from compromising health care.

As seen on KNSD-TV

San Diego’s First Cyclotron Installed Oct. 28 at Scripps Proton Therapy Center

2011-10-28T09:04:18-07:00

San Diego—Cancer care in San Diego County took a major step forward today with the start of installation of the region’s first cyclotron — a remarkable piece of medical equipment that will be the driving force behind the Scripps Proton Therapy Center, and one of only a small handful of such proton therapy medical devices and delivery systems in the United States.

Manufactured by Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, Calif., the 90-ton cyclotron is about the same weight as a fully loaded 737 jetliner, but just 6 feet high and 9 feet wide. The cyclotron’s job is to accelerate protons to extremely fast speeds — roughly 100,000 miles per second or 0.61 times the speed of light — to create a beam that can precisely reach tumors, even if deeply seated and located near critical organs. These beams can also be shaped in three dimensions to avoid surrounding healthy tissues, targeting tumors with unprecedented accuracy.

Made predominantly of extremely pure iron to optimize magnetic power, the cyclotron uses water and electricity to create a plasma stream, from which protons are extracted. Protons are then accelerated by the magnetic energy between the upper and lower halves of the cyclotron — the force of which is equivalent to 200 tons. The protons are then sent through a beam transport system using a series of electromagnets to steer the beams for delivery to patient treatment rooms.

Construction on the 102,000-square-foot center began in October 2010, and is expected to be open for patient care by spring 2013. The Scripps Proton Therapy Center will have the capacity to treat approximately 2,400 patients annually. It is being built on a 7-acre site in the Carroll Canyon area of Mira Mesa, at 9730 Summers Ridge Road.

There are currently nine proton therapy patient treatment centers operating in the U.S., and just one west of the Rockies. They are located in Loma Linda, Calif. (opened 1991); Boston, Mass. (opened 2002); Bloomington, Ind. (opened 2004); Houston, Texas (opened 2006); Jacksonville, Fla. (opened 2006); Oklahoma City, Okla. (opened 2009); Philadelphia, Penn. (opened 2010); Hampton, Va. (opened 2010); and Warrenville, Ill. (opened 2010).

The cyclotron has taken an extraordinary journey from inception to installation in San Diego. It was manufactured and tested in Troisdorf, Germany over a 20-month period by a team of about three dozen engineers, physicists, electricians, welders and others with specialized expertise. It was then shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, through the Panama Canal and into Port Hueneme, just north of Los Angeles. From there it was transported via two specialized 200-foot-long, 19-axel trailers, to evenly distribute the exceptionally heavy load.

After arriving at the Scripps Proton Therapy Center, the cyclotron will be lifted in two separate sections, using a specially designed crane that is usually deployed to move heavy industrial equipment weighing up to 1,000 tons. During the course of two straight workdays, the cyclotron will be painstakingly aligned into place, due largely to the sub-millimeter accuracy required of its placement.

Following the cyclotron’s installation, the beam transport system and other equipment will be installed in patient treatment rooms. Meanwhile, the cyclotron will undergo testing to meet various acceptance criteria under the guidance of a team of engineers, physicists, software engineers and other experts.

Scripps Proton Therapy Center will include five treatment rooms, three of which will include gantries, which are three-story, 360-degree rotational machines designed to deliver the therapeutic beam at the precise angle prescribed by the physician. Each gantry weighs 280 tons. The other two treatment rooms will have fixed-beam machines. The center will also offer MRI, CT and PET/CT imaging services in support of proton therapy; 16 patient exam rooms; and offices for 14 physicians.

The facility is being developed by Advanced Particle Therapy (APT), LLC of San Diego and will be operated by Scripps Health and Scripps Clinic Medical Group. Scripps Health will provide clinical management services to the center and Scripps Clinic Medical Group will oversee the medical services. APT has arranged the financing to build the center and purchase the proton therapy equipment from Varian Medical Systems. Additionally, APT will manage and maintain the building and equipment. The architect and general contractor for the center is The Haskell Company of Jacksonville, Fla., one of the nation’s leading design-builders of health care facilities.

For certain cancers, proton therapy offers a more precise and aggressive approach to destroying cancerous and non-cancerous tumors, compared to conventional X-ray radiation. Proton therapy involves the use of a controlled beam of protons to target tumors with control and precision unavailable in other radiation therapies. The precise delivery of proton energy limits damage to healthy surrounding tissue and allows for a more potent and effective dose of radiation to be used.

Patients will be able to access this treatment through a referral to a specialist credentialed by the Scripps Proton Therapy Center. Proton therapy has an established history of reimbursement by Medicare and private health care payers.

A non-invasive treatment, proton beam therapy is usually performed on an outpatient basis and is considered most effective on solid, deep-seated tumors that are localized and have not spread to distant areas of the body.

Varian will equip the facility with a fully integrated ProBeam proton therapy system. The center’s superconducting cyclotron will feature pencil-beam (or spot) scanning, which allows for modulation of the proton beam’s intensity. This allows doctors to precisely shape the dose distribution to concentrate on the targeted tumor while minimizing exposure of normal healthy tissue.

Nearly 80,000 people worldwide have received proton therapy at centers in Europe, Asia and the United States. Patients typically receive approximately 30 treatments during a four- to six-week period. Each treatment lasts for approximately 15-25 minutes, after which the patient is free to carry on with daily affairs.

In addition to providing patient care, Scripps expects to be at the forefront of new and developing clinical applications as part of its proton practice and connection with other national centers.

Radiation generated by the proton therapy system will be contained by installing the equipment in a bunker with concrete up to 15 feet thick. Two completely independent monitoring systems are also being installed to ensure safe operation. A personnel protection system (PPS) will monitor the safety of individuals inside the facility. Additional radiation monitors are being installed outside the facility to prevent environmental exposure.

About Scripps Cancer Center

With more than 300 affiliated physicians, Scripps Cancer Center is a nationally recognized leader in cancer care, providing comprehensive care at its four hospitals and various Scripps Clinic locations. Scripps Cancer Center seeks to provide the best possible treatment and cutting-edge research trials for patients by coordinating medical expertise in the areas of clinical cancer care, community outreach and clinical, translational and basic research. Scripps is the only cancer care provider in San Diego to earn network accreditation from the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer.

About Scripps Health

Learn more about Scripps Health, a nonprofit integrated health system based in San Diego, Calif.