"Thank you, director. The treatment was excellent. I didn’t feel a thing, no pain or discomfort at all." On the morning of August 7, 66-year-old Ms. Wang, a lung cancer patient from Shandong Province, stepped off the treatment bed easily at the International Proton Radiotherapy Center of Ion Medical Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China. She kept clasping her hands to express gratitude to the doctors welcoming her. After 10 treatment sessions over two weeks, Ms. Wang, the first patient treated with China’s first domestically developed superconducting cyclotron proton therapy system, finished the whole treatment course and was discharged smoothly.

In 2016, Hefei CAS Ion Medical Technology Equipment Co., Ltd. started the independent research and development of the domestic superconducting cyclotron proton therapy system. Transforming superconducting technologies from the nuclear fusion research of the "artificial sun" at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the system delivers precise radiotherapy targeting tumors with the Bragg peak effect of protons. It can strike tumors accurately while greatly protecting healthy organs around lesions, and is applicable to complicated solid tumors such as intracranial tumors, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and lung cancer. The whole system is fully made in China, and the company has led the formulation of the international standard Radiation Protection Standard for Medical Proton Accelerators.

The superconducting proton therapy system adopted in this trial is equipped with the SC240 superconducting cyclotron independently developed by CAS Ion Medical, which boasts an ultra-large irradiation field and 360-degree full-circle beam delivery capacity. The whole treatment adopts accurate positioning guided by multi-mode fused 4D imaging to realize dynamic adaptation and precise treatment. The equipment operates stably with low noise, and the treatment control software runs smoothly.

The Ion Medical Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of the USTC is the only medical institution in China equipped with two sets of proton therapy systems. Yuan Shuanghu, Vice President of the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC and Director of its Ion Medical Center, said the safe and smooth treatment has verified the safety and precision of the domestic superconducting cyclotron proton therapy system. The hospital will steadily carry out follow-up clinical trials, deepen medical-industrial cooperation, and help domestic high-end radiotherapy technology benefit more patients.

At present, the total cost of proton therapy has been reduced from nearly 300,000 RMB to a ceiling of 170,000 RMB. With the launch of domestically produced superconducting proton equipment in the future, especially the application of the new generation of miniaturized proton devices, proton therapy will become more affordable for the public.

Source: Anhui Daily

Translated by Shao Hanzhe, intern