Potential Demand for Proton Therapy

National, Illinois and Chicago Statistics

National Demand

According to the American Cancer Society that there are 1.4 million new cancer cases per year

• Of these approximately 60 percent (840,000 per year) will seek radiation therapy at some point during care
• Using a conservative estimate that 30 percent of these 840,000 patients would benefit from proton therapy, approximately 250,000 patients could seek this technology.
• Today’s five operating centers can treat an estimated 6,000 patients

Using the most conservative estimates, it will take 56 centers at current capacity levels to treat 84,000 patients (160 centers to treat 250,000).

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Illinois/Chicago

• According to the American Cancer Society, there are approximately 60,000 new patients with cancer in Illinois each year (approximately 38,000 in the five-county Chicago metropolitan area)
• 60 percent of cancer cases in Illinois (36,000 per year) will get radiation at some point during treatment (22,800 in Chicago metropolitan area)
• Using conservative estimates, about 30 percent of cases would benefit from proton therapy: 10,800 per year in Illinois (6,840 in the Chicago metropolitan area)
• Assuming approximately 1,500 patients would be treated per center at capacity, there is demand statewide for seven facilities and five in the Chicago metropolitan area to meet the annual demand if patients only came from the local market.
• The centers that are currently operating report that about 50 percent of their available treatment slots are filled by patients from outside of their states.

Updated July 2007