A new option for cancer radiotherapy! "Heavy particle therapy" is suitable for 13 types of cancer Taipei Veterans General Hospital reveals the key "4 major benefits"
Cancer ranks as the leading cause of death in Taiwan, with nearly 120,000 new cancer patients every year. Therefore, effective treatments are urgently needed to prevent cancer from affecting people’s physical and mental health and even causing them to lose their lives. To this end, Taipei Veterans General Hospital specially introduced “heavy particle therapy”, a new international cancer treatment option, and began actively planning to build Taiwan’s first “heavy particle cancer treatment center” in 2008.
New options for cancer treatment! What are the benefits of “heavy particle therapy”?
What is heavy particle therapy? Taipei Veterans General Hospital pointed out that currently available cancer treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted drug therapy and immunotherapy. Heavy particle therapy is a new option in “radiation therapy”. It accelerates carbon ions to 70% of the speed of light through a “synchrotron” and then irradiates tumor cells intensively.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital said that because the mass of heavy particles is 12 times that of protons, they have more powerful destructive power against cancer cells. Different from “photon therapy”, when irradiating body tissues, it is easy to accumulate dose in the area where the velocity passes; heavy particle therapy benefits from the characteristics of the “Bragg peak”, which can greatly reduce the damage to surrounding normal tissues and ensure Severely damage tumor cells to achieve therapeutic effects.
Generally speaking, photon therapy usually requires about 30 irradiations, while the number of irradiations for heavy particle therapy is only about 12 or less. In addition, Taipei Veterans General Hospital Heavy Ion Cancer Treatment Center has also introduced the latest “moving body tracking system” (respiratory control radiotherapy technology) and “pen tip scanning irradiation system”. The biggest advantage is that it has higher accuracy and is more Can reduce damage to normal tissue.
Heavy particle therapy is suitable for 13 types of cancer! No signs of discomfort or recurrence after 7 days of treatment
Taipei Veterans General Hospital emphasizes that heavy particle therapy is a non-invasive treatment that can effectively shorten the course of cancer treatment and allow patients to quickly return to their daily lives. Heavy particle therapy is suitable for tumors in different locations, such as skull base, orbit, head and neck, colorectum, uterus/cervix, prostate, bone and soft tissue, esophagus, breast, lungs, liver, kidney, and pancreas. Even for tumors that are difficult to treat, difficult to operate, and resistant to photon therapy, such as metastatic tumors, the effect is more significant than traditional therapy.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital also cited a case of a 72-year-old patient: The patient was regularly followed up at the gastroenterology outpatient clinic due to hepatitis B. In March last year, a computed tomography examination revealed a 2.1 cm lesion in the right liver, which was suspected to be a hepatocellular tumor. Surgery was recommended. Excision or radiofrequency cauterization was performed, but the patient did not consent due to the risks of treatment. An MRI scan in May revealed that the right liver lesion was 2.3 cm in diameter and had typical imaging features of hepatocellular carcinoma. At the same time, the cancer index had increased significantly.
After the doctor again recommended surgery or radiofrequency cauterization, but the patient still refused, the medical team immediately referred him to participate in the heavy particle human trial case evaluation, and was selected to join the clinical trial after review by the heavy particle committee. The patient underwent respiratory controlled heavy particle radiation therapy 4 times within a week. In November, a liver MRI follow-up examination revealed that the right liver tumor had completely disappeared. There was no discomfort during the treatment, the skin was only slightly red, and there were no observable side effects. Currently, he is being followed up in the outpatient clinic without any recurrence.
Taipei Veterans General Hospital stated that heavy particle radiotherapy can also be integrated with other treatment methods, such as surgery, chemotherapy, photon therapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, etc., to provide cross-specialty and more complete all-round cancer treatment for many There is new hope for a cancer that was once considered difficult to treat. The public can directly make an appointment for the heavy particle consultation clinic, or can be referred for treatment through various specialties at Taipei Veterans General Hospital. Multiple channels make it more convenient for the public to seek medical treatment.
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