October 30, 2012 — IBA Group, a leader in advanced cancer diagnosis and therapy technologies, and Royal Philips Electronics announced their first installation of a state-of-the-art, patient-centered proton therapy treatment room in the United States. A new addition to the Willis-Knighton Cancer Center in Shreveport, La., will be the first IBA installation to incorporate the Philips Ambient Experience.
Designed and engineered by Philips Healthcare, the Philips Ambient Experience promotes patient relaxation during proton treatments by permitting patients to selectively add comforting light, sound and images to the treatment room environment before they begin therapy. This will help improve the patient and staff experience, turning a cold, impersonal environment into one that comforts and reassures as the patient becomes an active participant in the process.
“This new installation is the first to come to fruition from the Philips-IBA cooperative agreement,” said Olivier Legrain, CEO at IBA. “It is demonstrative of a successful collaboration with Philips in offering highly advanced, patient-centered care, and we are delighted it will be integrated into our new proton system installations.”
“Ambient Experience enhances our ability to provide superior cancer care,” said Lane Rosen of the Willis-Knighton Cancer Center. “The soothing and empowering atmosphere will make our patients more comfortable, which will allow our staff to work more efficiently. IBA and Philips have been excellent partners, so it made sense to work with them to bring this unique experience to our patients.”
Willis-Knighton will be the first center to utilize Proteus One*, IBA’s single-room compact gantry solution for those looking for a more cost-effective, smaller footprint option. The $40 million project is expected to begin treating cancer patients with protons in early 2014.
Together with Philips, IBA is demonstrating a life-size model of the Proteus One proton therapy room combined with the Philips Ambient Experience solution in booth #3019 at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO’s) 54th Annual Meeting.
For more information: www.iba-worldwide.com, www.philips.com/newscenter, www.wkhs.com/cancer
*Proteus One is the brand name of a new configuration of the Proteus 235, including some new developments subject to review by competent authorities (the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Notified Bodies, et al.) before marketing.