New cancer fighting machinery arrives at Southwest Florida Proton

Reporter: Amy Oshier
Published: Updated:

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.

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.

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