But that calculus is changing.
Proton therapy equipment price.
Without insurance proton therapy costs can range anywhere from as little as 30 000 to more than 135 000 without insurance.
Particle accelerators don t come cheap.
The equipment required for proton beam treatment is massive and expensive.
Proton therapy when compared to traditional radiation treatments can be four to seven times more due to the specialized equipment and expertise required to run the 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.
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.
Particle accelerators don t come cheap.
Most proton beam facilities costs less 20 million to 150 million for single and multiroom facilities according to scott warwick executive director of the national association of proton therapy.
For head and neck cancers proton therapy reduces patient weight loss and the need for feeding tubes factors that dramatically reduce the gap between proton and x ray therapy particularly toward the end of treatment.