Proton Beam Therapy Equipment

A synchrotron the machine that speeds up the protons before they enter the body typically requires its own building and costs about 100 million.

Proton beam therapy equipment. Proton beam therapy centers with details about equipment photos addresses telephone numbers and websites updated regularly. More nci designated cancer centers choose mevion than any other proton therapy system because of mevion s high quality small footprint and extraordinarily low capital and operating costs. Cancerous cells are particularly vulnerable to attacks on dna. Proton therapy is the most technologically advanced method to deliver radiation treatments to cancerous tumors available today.

Traditional proton therapy systems were too expensive too large and much too complex for most cancer treatment centers. Proton beam therapy and prostate cancer and. Proton therapy centers in the united states this website is provided by robert d. These charged particles damage the dna of cells ultimately killing them by stopping their reproduction and thereby eliminating the tumor.

The equipment required for proton beam treatment is massive and expensive. Proton therapy has changed. Proton beam therapy uses special machines a cyclotron and synchrotron being the most common to generate and accelerate protons to speeds up to 60 percent the speed of light and energies of up to 250 million electron volts. The equipment used for proton therapy initially carried a price tag of between 120 million and 200 million which gave many facilities pause lagasse writes.

Proton therapy has changed. Instead of using x rays like regular radiation treatment it uses protons to sends beams of high energy that can target tumors more precisely than x ray radiation. What equipment is used. A large machine called a synchrotron extracts protons from hydrogen atoms accelerating them to almost the speed of light and delivering the radiation with pinpoint accuracy.

Proton beam radiation therapy is a promising cancer treatment option but the size and cost of instituting the necessary equipment has made widespread access to the treatment a challenge. Particle accelerators don t come cheap. Having devised an innovative design to address these hurdles scientists and engineers approached ranor seeking our expertise. Mevion transformed radiation oncology by inventing compact proton therapy shrinking the equipment footprint and the operational and financial costs significantly while still delivering a powerful cancer fighting tool.

These high energy protons are steered by magnets toward the treatment room and then to the specific part of the body being treated. Proton therapy is a type of external beam radiotherapy that uses ionizing radiation in proton therapy medical personnel use a particle accelerator to target a tumor with a beam of protons. Proton therapy also known as proton beam therapy is a form of radiation treatment used to destroy tumor cells. Particle accelerators don t come cheap.