Today, the proton therapy treatment center (located onsite at the TRIUMF campus in Vancouver, B.C.) treats around ten patients per year. The facility runs as a collaboration between TRIUMF, the British Columbia Cancer Agency, and the University of British Columbia’s Eye Care Centre. Proton therapy treatment has an average success rate of 95% for tumor control and an average five-year survival rate of 80%, which are on par with surgical removal of the eye. Proton radiotherapy is unique in that it enters the eye at a controlled energy, and focuses at a precise distance inside the tissue. These unique properties allow doctors to deliver the energy directly to the tumor, destroy cancerous cells while preserving the nearby parts of the eye and, in many cases, save the patient’s vision.

Dr. Cornelia Hoehr, a research scientist at TRIUMF and manager of the TRIUMF Proton Therapy facility, prepares a patient for treatment