June 1, 2012 —Frank Mackinson of Bound Brook, N.J., became the first patient to complete treatment at the ProCure Proton Therapy Center in Somerset, N.J. The Somerset Center opened officially on March 20, one month ahead of schedule, enabling Mackinson to begin treatment on March 28. Proton therapy is a precise form of radiation treatment for cancer without many of the short- and long-term side effects often experienced with standard X-ray radiation.
Mackinson’s therapy regimen was directed at a solitary plasmacytoma of the paranasal sinuses that had been eroding into the skull base and brain. “Two weeks into my treatment, I noticed a marked improvement in my peripheral vision, which I had been gradually losing over the past three years,” Mackinson said.
“We are thrilled that our first N.J. patient experienced tangible clinical and lifestyle improvements,” said Brian Chon, medical director of the ProCure Proton Therapy Center and Mackinson’s treating radiation oncologist. “It is only recently that proton therapy has been widely available to patients. I look forward to bringing protons to thousands of other patients like Mackinson in New Jersey, New York and the surrounding region.”
Studies have shown proton therapy to be effective in treating many types of tumors, including brain, central nervous system, gastrointestinal, head and neck, lung and prostate, as well as sarcomas and many pediatric cancers. The precision of proton therapy makes it especially effective for treating children and adults with anatomically complex tumors, such as tumors along the spinal cord, at the base of the skull and in the sinuses, like Mackinson’s.
The ProCure Therapy Center in Somerset is the first proton treatment facility in the New York metropolitan area. It is only the 10th such center in the nation.
For more information: www.procure.com/nj
August 09, 2024 
