$25 Million Cyclotron Brings New Cancer Treatment to AL
A 90-ton cyclotron arrived Tuesday on the campus of UAB. The machine will be part of a new proton therapy center, bringing a specialized cancer treatment to Alabama.
A crowd gathered Tuesday to witness a crane lift the giant cyclotron and slowly lower it through a hole in the roof of a building. That building, called the UAB Proton Center, was built specifically to house the machine.
Dr. James Bonner, chairman of radiation oncology at UAB, watched from the street below.
“Well you can see it’s kind of a glob of metal right now,” Bonner said of the new cyclotron. “So it’s been put together in a tight format so it can be shipped across the ocean.”
The cyclotron was built in Germany and took about a month to make its way to Birmingham. It costs around $25 million. The device is owned by a company called Proton International, but UAB clinical staff will be in charge of operating it. Once it is up and running, the cyclotron will spin protons really fast and generate a beam of energy to target cancerous tumors. Bonner says this is the first time this kind of treatment will be available in Alabama.
“I don’t think it’s worth the investment to have one of these on every street corner,” Bonner says. “This is a type of radiation that’s very specific for certain types of tumors.”
He says the cyclotron is more precise than traditional radiation, so it doesn’t damage surrounding tissue. That is better for treating kids or targeting tumors at the base of the skull. Bonner says UAB hopes to treat its first patient with the machine in January of next year.
Twenty years later, the REAL ID deadline is here. Here’s why it took so long
REAL ID will be enforced in U.S. airports starting May 7. Implementing the law involved years of negotiations between federal and state officials.
Meet the Florida group chipping away at public benefits one state at a time
The Trump administration's "Make America Healthy Again" platform has boosted the agenda of a conservative think tank that's been working for more than a decade to reshape the nation's public assistance programs.
Trump has said Canada should be the 51st state. Today, he meets its prime minister
Prime Minister Mark Carney won the Canadian election vowing to take on President Trump. Tuesday, they meet for the first time in the Oval Office.
Trump expands military use at the southern border. Are there legal limits?
The Posse Comitatus Act restricts using federal troops in civilian law enforcement. Exceptions exist, but Trump's crackdown on immigration is shaping up to be a major test for the law.
Critics warn DOJ is being politicized despite vows to end its purported weaponization
Critics warn that despite President Trump's call to end the purported weaponization of the Justice Department, it has become more politicized in the president's first three months back in office.
South Korea halted its adoption fraud investigation. Adoptees still demand the truth
The suspension of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission raises questions about future efforts to investigate the country's foreign adoption program.
