Proton tumor therapy center to be put into use in 2024

Writer: Chen Siqi  |  Editor: Zhang Chanwen  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2023-03-02

A Bevatron was installed at Shenzhen Proton Tumor Therapy Center on Monday, marking a significant progress in the center’s construction, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

The center is expected to put its first treatment room into use in the first half of 2024, and the center will be fully operational by the end of 2025. Upon operation, it will be the first public proton tumor therapy center in South China.

The center, with a 35,000-square-meter construction area, will have a 13-story main structure. The first three floors will make room for proton therapy rooms and supporting facilities, while the fourth to 10th floors will be arranged for consulting rooms and inpatient wards.

Proton therapy is a type of radiation therapy — a treatment that uses high-powered energy to treat cancer and some noncancerous tumors — which is regarded as the most advanced radiation therapy to treat malignant tumors around the world.

The center will introduce the IBA Proteus PLUS system. The system is designed to generate and deliver proton beams for treating patients with malignant tumors in the head, neck and body parts.

The protons, accelerated to approach the speed of light, will enter the patient’s body and make a blow when they are near a tumor. The high-powered energy will then kill tumorous cells.

Wang Lyuhua, president of the Cancer Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Shenzhen Center, said that proton therapy can provide good tumor treatment results – it is highly precise, has less side effects and gives the tumor a fatal blow. The therapy is highly suitable for children because it causes less side effects on children’s growth.

Clinical statistics show that after receiving proton therapy, an early-stage lung cancer patient’s five-year survival rate will reach 55%. For early-stage liver cancer patients, the five-year survival rate will be 67% and for prostate cancer, 93%.