A proposed Manhattan proton therapy center, the New York Proton Center, is scheduled to begin construction on the West side next February, so long as the state gives the go ahead once regulatory approvals are met, according to media reports.

The $235 million proton-beam cancer treatment center is expected to open in 2014, backed by five New York hospitals, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Beth Israel Medical Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, Montefiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital. The center is expected to treat 1,500 patients annually.

The center will be New York's first. Currently, the nation has eight centers. A ProCure Center opening in suburban Chicago next month, will be the nation's ninth, and a third ProCure center is scheduled to open in 2012 just 40 miles away from the proposed Manhattan center.

Proton therapy is similar to other forms of external beam radiation therapy - targeting and killing tumor cells - but proton beams are ideal for cancer therapy because more radiation is delivered to the cancerous cells, sparing the healthy tissue.

The location is set for the 241,220-square-foot center at 621 W. 57th St., according to reports from Crain's Business News.

More Industry Headlines