August 20, 2024- Mayo Clinic is set to celebrate the next phase of construction of its new proton beam therapy facility with a topping-off ceremony, which will place the final steel beam on top of the Andersen Building. The Andersen Building, located in downtown Rochester, was constructed to meet the increasing demand of patients seeking advanced cancer treatment. The building, expected to be open and treating patients in the second quarter of 2027, will have three levels above grade and two below ground and will allow for future vertical expansion.
Mayo Clinic’s Proton Beam Therapy Program opened in 2015 within the Jacobson Building in Rochester and has since approached its appointment capacity. Today, approximately 1,250 patients receive proton beam therapy per year in the Jacobson Building, which is adjacent to the Andersen Building. Approximately 900 additional patients per year will be treated at the Andersen Building to meet the site’s estimated demand of 2,000 patients who will need proton beam therapy each year by 2032.
Proton beam therapy uses pencil beam scanning to precisely deliver high doses of radiation to cancerous tissue while minimizing radiation of surrounding healthy tissue. This highly targeted therapy is ideal for people with tumors close to, or in, vital organs and for young people whose organs are still developing.