Proton radiation therapy is available at roughly 45 operational centers across the United States and more than 100 facilities worldwide. The U.S. has the highest concentration of centers, but options are expanding quickly in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, with dozens of new facilities expected to open in 2025 and 2026. Because these centers require enormous, specialized equipment, they remain far less common than conventional radiation clinics, and many patients travel significant distances to reach one.
Proton Therapy Centers in the U.S.
The United States has more proton therapy facilities than any other country. Centers are spread across more than 25 states, though they cluster in larger metropolitan areas and academic medical systems. Some of the most established programs include Loma Linda University Medical Center in California (the first hospital-based center, treating patients since 1990), MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mayo Clinic locations in Minnesota and Arizona, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Roberts Proton Therapy Center in Philadelphia.
Other well-known centers operate at Johns Hopkins in Washington, D.C., Northwestern Medicine’s Proton Center near Chicago, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, and the University of Florida Health Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville. States like New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington also have operational facilities. The Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group (PTCOG), the international body that tracks these facilities, maintains a public registry of every center currently treating patients.
Several new U.S. centers are under construction or in late-stage development. Stanford Medicine in California, UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin, Baptist Health Lynn Cancer Institute in Boca Raton, Florida, and Moffitt Cancer Center in the Tampa area are all planning to begin treating patients by 2025 or 2026. Florida in particular is seeing a wave of expansion, with at least five new facilities in various stages of development across the state.
International Availability
Outside the U.S., proton therapy is available across Europe, Asia, and parts of the Middle East. Major European centers include MedAustron in Austria (operational since 2016), the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, facilities in Germany, the United Kingdom’s NHS-funded centers in Manchester and London, and centers in France, Italy, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. Spain and France both have new facilities expected to open in 2026.
Asia has seen rapid growth, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and China. Japan has long been a leader in particle therapy and operates more than a dozen facilities. China has multiple centers running and several more under construction in cities including Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Changsha. South Korea’s National Cancer Center in Seoul is building an additional facility planned for 2026. India, Taiwan, and Singapore also have operational or planned programs.
Newer regions joining the map include the Middle East (a center in Abu Dhabi is targeting 2026), Israel (Tel Aviv Medical Center, expected 2025), the Caucasus (Kutaisi, Georgia, planned for 2026), Central Asia (Astana, Kazakhstan), and South America (Argentina’s first center at the Roffo Cancer Institute in Buenos Aires, planned for 2026).
Which Cancers Are Treated With Proton Therapy
Proton therapy’s main advantage is precision. Unlike conventional X-ray radiation, protons deposit most of their energy directly at the tumor and stop, delivering far less radiation to surrounding healthy tissue. This makes it especially valuable when a tumor sits near critical structures like the brain, spinal cord, eyes, or heart.
The American Society for Radiation Oncology recognizes proton therapy as appropriate for a specific set of conditions in adults: brain and spinal cord tumors, advanced head and neck cancers, cancers of the sinuses, skull base tumors like chordomas, liver cancer, eye tumors including ocular melanomas, retroperitoneal sarcomas, and spinal tumors where the spinal cord’s radiation tolerance would otherwise be exceeded. It is also used when a patient needs re-irradiation in an area that has already received radiation, since the precision helps avoid pushing surrounding tissues past their cumulative tolerance.
Pediatric cancers are among the strongest use cases. Children’s developing tissues are highly sensitive to radiation, and reducing exposure to healthy organs lowers the risk of growth problems, cognitive effects, and secondary cancers later in life. Patients with certain genetic syndromes that increase cancer risk, such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome or neurofibromatosis, also benefit from minimizing total radiation exposure.
For some common cancers like prostate cancer, proton therapy is used but remains more controversial from an insurance perspective. Coverage decisions for these cases are often made on a case-by-case basis.
What Treatment Looks Like
A typical proton therapy course consists of daily sessions, five days a week, for several weeks. The total number of sessions varies by cancer type but a common course runs around 25 to 30 treatments. Each daily session lasts about 30 minutes in the treatment room, though you should expect to be at the center for up to an hour and a half when you factor in check-in, positioning, and imaging to align the beam precisely before each treatment.
Proton centers come in two formats. Older, larger facilities are multi-room centers with one particle accelerator (a cyclotron or synchrotron) that switches its beam between several treatment rooms. These centers can treat 40 to 45 patients per room in a full operating day. Newer, compact single-room systems house everything in one suite and have made it financially feasible for more hospitals to offer proton therapy, which is a major reason the number of centers has been growing.
Cost and Insurance Coverage
Proton therapy is more expensive than conventional radiation. The facilities cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, and that price is reflected in treatment charges. An illustrative estimate for a typical 30-session course ranges from roughly $75,000 to $97,000 for the proton delivery component alone, before accounting for physician fees, imaging, and other costs.
Medicare and Medicaid cover proton therapy for approved indications. Private insurance plans also cover it, but policies vary significantly. For cancers where proton therapy has strong clinical consensus, like pediatric tumors or skull base cancers, approval is relatively straightforward. For cancers where evidence of superiority over conventional radiation is still debated, such as prostate cancer, many private insurers deny coverage or require extensive documentation. Some states have passed laws prohibiting insurers from holding proton therapy to a higher standard of clinical evidence than other forms of radiation, and legislative efforts to expand access continue.
If your insurer denies coverage, the treating center’s financial counselors can often assist with appeals. Prior authorization is almost always required, so your radiation oncologist’s office will typically start the insurance process before treatment begins.
Traveling for Treatment
Because proton centers are relatively rare, many patients travel from out of state or even out of country. Treatment courses lasting several weeks mean you will likely need temporary housing near the center. Most major proton facilities have systems in place to help with this. Northwestern Medicine, for example, offers discounted hotel rates and shuttle service to and from the center. Pediatric patients and their families may qualify for free stays at nearby Ronald McDonald House locations, with the center’s liaison staff coordinating arrangements and transportation.
Other large centers offer similar concierge-style support: help booking housing, connecting you with local services, and coordinating your treatment schedule to minimize disruption. When evaluating centers, it is worth asking directly about lodging programs, transportation assistance, and whether the center has experience managing out-of-town patients, since that logistical support can make a meaningful difference over a multi-week treatment course.