New cancer fighting machinery arrives at Southwest Florida Proton

Five years of planning are finally coming to fruition as cancer-fighting machinery was put in place at Southwest Florida Proton.

The last big piece of equipment is inside now, and crews are putting it all together.

A large crane slowly lowered the huge proton beam apparatus into place. The gantry was nestled into a specially constructed vault using an opening in the roof.

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The walls are several feet thick and made of cement.

That’s where it will be paired with its cyclotron, the piece that generates the cancer-fighting beam.

Proton therapy is a very complex form of radiation that uses protons instead of X-rays.

The benefit is that it doesn’t pass through the body and instead goes precisely into the tumor.

All the pieces are in place now, but it will take about a year of calibrating and fine-tuning before the proton machine is up and running.

This is the only proton center on Florida’s west coast. It will join 45 others in the country.