Unusual cancer treatment center to reopen

BATAVIA, Ill., Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A new partner and the promise of funding have combined to resuscitate an unusual cancer treatment program.

Northern Illinois University has partnered with the Fermi National Accelerator operation about 45 miles west of Chicago to once again offer cancer treatment using neutrons rather than radiation, the Chicago Tribune reported.

NIU President John Peters said House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) promised $2.7 million in funding over three years to support the new NIU Institute for Neutron Therapy at Fermilab. The clinic, in a small portion of the nuclear particle accelerator laboratory, closed about 18 months ago when a local hospital no longer could fund it.

The clinic, which reopens next month, is one of just three in the U.S. Neutron therapy typically requires about 12 treatments compared with more than 30 for radiation therapy, the newspaper reported.