On April 9, the Hefei Ion Medical Center (Proton Hospital) held events marking the second anniversary of its opening and a public open day. Reporters at the scene learned that a domestically produced “proton system” made in Hefei is scheduled to enter clinical trials in the first half of this year; with domestic substitution, proton therapy is expected to become more affordable. The Hefei Ion Medical Center will also become the country’s only center equipped with two proton therapy systems. The domestic proton system has already been installed at the Hefei Ion Medical Center.

At the second‑phase facility of the Hefei Ion Medical Center, staff are performing final adjustments on the domestically produced proton system — the Capro‑X1 superconducting proton radiation therapy system — prior to clinical trials. The system comprises two major treatment rooms: a rotating‑beam treatment room and a 360‑degree seated‑rotation treatment room. Reporters observed that the rotating‑beam room contains a treatment couch on which the patient lies while the proton beam can be flexibly and precisely delivered from any angle; the 360‑degree seated‑rotation room is equipped with a rotating seat device mainly for fixed‑angle irradiation of head‑and‑neck tumors. Patients enter the treatment room lying down or seated much like a CT scan, and a single “tumor strike” can be completed in about half an hour.

The domestically developed Capro‑X1 proton system was independently designed and manufactured by Hefei CAS Ion Medical and Technical Device Co., Ltd. The treatment system features a lightweight 360‑degree rotating treatment gantry, a high‑performance, high‑precision proton energy‑selection system, and a CBCT image‑guidance system with one of the largest imaging fields in China. It provides integrated proton radiation therapy capabilities and can be used to treat intracranial tumors, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer, rectal cancer, central nervous system tumors, and other indications.

Since its opening two years ago, the Hefei Ion Medical Center has treated more than 700 oncology patients, more than half of whom came from outside the province.

Source: Hefei Daily