Thousands of cancer patients in need of proton therapy – a form of radiation therapy without many of the short- and long-term side effects – can look forward to having a treatment center available in Illinois with the 4-0 approval by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board (IHFPB) of the Proton Therapy Center of Central DuPage Hospital.

Construction on the 58,000-square-foot, proton therapy treatment center in Warrenville's Cantera development will begin immediately according to the center's joint venture partners, Central DuPage Hospital (CDH), Radiation Oncology Consultations – Chicago's largest radiation oncology group – and ProCure Treatment Centers (Bloomington, Indiana).

The center is expected to begin treating patients in 2010.

The Proton Therapy Center of CDH will be a four-treatment-room facility, with the capacity to treat 1,500 patients a year. The development of the treatment center will create roughly 100 full-time jobs and 400 temporary positions for construction and start-up operations.

The project is being funded entirely through private sources.