Since the introduction of proton therapy in China in 2015, it has achieved obvious efficacy in tumor treatment. In recent years, the mainland has successively carried out 4 proton therapy projects to provide proton therapy for more tumor patients. In the context of the continuous development of proton therapy, there are still 24 proton therapy centers under construction in the mainland. Not only is the construction of proton therapy in China in full swing, but various countries abroad are also developing proton therapy.
Why is proton therapy so "hot"?
What are its advantages?
The vigorous development of proton therapy reflects the treatment needs of patients and also reflects their advantages in tumor treatment. To explore the advantages of proton therapy, you need to understand its treatment principles.
Proton therapy
Proton therapy falls under the category of radiation therapy. Their principle is to use high-energy rays to irradiate tumors and destroy the DNA of cancer cells to kill cancer cells and shrink tumor tissue necrosis. The difference is that the masses of photons and particles are different, causing them to have different energy decay after entering the human body.
Traditional photon radiotherapy has the greatest energy when it comes into contact with the human surface, and then gradually decreases, and the energy is lower when reaching the depth of the tumor; while the protons are emitted at high speeds, a bragg peak of energy is formed, that is, most of the energy is concentrated in the tumor location, and the surrounding normal tissue and skin damage is small.
The principle of proton therapy reflects its therapeutic advantages:
Advantage one: Treatment side effects are minimal
More than 80% of patients with conventional radiotherapy experience adverse effects of treatment, especially rashes and leukopenia, while only about 20-30% of patients will experience side effects after proton therapy. Proton therapy allows patients to live as they used to after treatment.
Red is the high-dose area (also the area where the tumor is located),
Green is the medium dose area, blue is the low dose area.
For example, the esophageal cancer in the figure above compares photon therapy and proton therapy to the radiation irradiated area. It can be seen that the protective effect of proton therapy plan on the surrounding normal tissue is more significant.
Advantage two: high efficiency and non-invasive
Proton therapy has a high energy, and with the development of technology, the application of 360° rotating frames has greatly reduced the treatment time. In addition, the patient does not have obvious sensations during proton therapy, and the treatment side effects are small, so that they can carry out daily activities at the end of the treatment.
Advantage three: less damage
Because proton therapy can release maximum energy at the tumor location and has very little damage to the surrounding healthy tissue, it is especially suitable for patients with brain tumors and children with developing tumors.
Which tumor patients can do proton therapy?
Which patients can't do it?
In general, patients with tumors suitable for radiotherapy can receive proton therapy, and the indications cover pediatric tumors, tumors of the chest, abdomen, pelvic cavity, head and neck, brain and spine. Especially for patients with early tumors and pediatric tumors. Of course, judging whether proton therapy can be done needs to be decided based on the evaluation of a professional doctor.
Proton therapy is generally not recommended in the following situations:
Patients who have extensive metastases throughout the body;
Patients with unclear pathological types;
Patients with hematological tumors.
Proton therapy is expensive, but still in short supply
Globally, the cost of proton therapy is higher. At present, the cost of proton therapy in China generally exceeds 200,000-250,000 yuan, and the cost of choosing overseas medical treatment for proton therapy exceeds 300,000 yuan. The reason why it is expensive is mainly related to the construction of proton centers. The construction of a proton center takes 3-5 years, with an investment of hundreds of millions of yuan, and the follow-up regular maintenance costs and labor costs are also very huge.
Even if the cost of treatment is so high, the current situation in the country is still in short supply. The number of new tumor patients in the mainland is about 4 million every year, and a proton therapy center can only treat about 1,000-2,000 people per year, resulting in a large number of patients with proton therapy needs cannot be treated, and many patients can only wait in line.
A chance to get free proton therapy
Every proton therapy center must go through a certain number of clinical trial cases before treating patients, so the opportunity comes!
Varian ProBeam Proton Therapy Device China Clinical Trial (Hefei) is a clinical trial for proton therapy in oncology patients that has passed ethical review and is recruiting subjects. At present, there are 11 participants, namely 3 patients with head and neck tumors, 2 patients with chest tumors, and 6 patients with abdominal tumors. If you are eligible for recruitment and would like to participate in this clinical trial, please contact us as soon as possible at 010-59575778.