'Music plays in the treatment room, and it is a relaxing environment. If nobody had told me, I wouldn't have known I was being irradiated. There's no pain and the irradiation time is short, so I'm glad I've had the treatment.'
The comment is from a patient treated at the East Japan Heavy Ion Center, Faculty of Medicine at
However, heavy ion therapy equipment is a rarity everywhere the world. In the words of Dr.
In the face of fierce competition among major heavy electric machinery manufacturers, Toshiba delivered
'The successful track record of the rotating gantry at
Successfully making compact rotating gantry, achieving the world's smallest size
The East Japan Heavy Ion Center has two treatment rooms: a fixed beam treatment room and a rotating gantry treatment room. The treatment launched in
Once the rotating gantry treatment room is in stable operation, cancers of the head and neck, bone and soft tissue, liver, and pancreas will also be targeted, and the number of target sites will be expanded as needed. However, as the number of sites that can be irradiated expands, so will the need to customize treatment for individual patients. That will have to be examined closely in the future.
A start-up company originating from the
'The next goal is to make the Yamagata Model a global standard,' says Yoshino. 'We are scheduled to deliver rotating gantries with the same design to
The challenges that come with being at the cutting edge: A shortage of clinical trials proves to be a stumbling block to global expansion
Why is it that heavy ion therapy, with its many advantages for both doctors and patients, is not more widespread?
'I sound quite pompous,' she laughs seemingly at herself. But this is probably her true feelings, having background of supporting the users as a former employee of the
Unlike X-ray, heavy ion beam can be tailored to deliver ionization peaks* and higher energy to cancerous tumors, which means that they can destroy them while minimizing damage to normal cells. X-ray is most effective closer to the body's surface and become weaker as they travel through the body, whereas heavy ion beam can irradiate cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy.
The process whereby the energy of the radiation as it passes through a material repels the electrons (negative charge) of the atoms in the material and separates them into positively charged atoms and free electrons.
Takeshita notes that, 'Taking full advantage of this characteristic requires a rotating gantry that is easy to operate and spins fast.' Toshiba's fits the bill on both counts, and as
Installation is not the goal. Pushing own limits for further improvement
Heavy ion beam is emitted from the scanning irradiation equipment. There was quite a struggle with this part. Standard scanning irradiation equipment uses two scanning electromagnets that change their magnetics fields at high speed, causing the beam to scan in two orthogonal directions and irradiate the entire affected area. Toshiba achieved the same result with a single scanning electromagnet, utilizing coil winding manufacturing technology developed with
By reducing the distance in this way, the East Japan Heavy Ion Center's equipment had room left to extend the magnet itself. The magnet is in the shape of a trumpet. By extending it, the irradiation field, which is the end of the horn, from where the sound emerges, can be widened. The widened radiation field realized by this extended horn is adopted in the heavy ion therapy equipment scheduled for delivery to
Heavy ion beams may be minor, but have more benefits than X-rays or proton beams
The team, which has achieved the world's first and world's smallest rotating gantry in quick succession has not ended its journey. It says it already has its eyes on next generation technology that combines the heavy ion therapy system with diagnostic imaging such as CT and MRI. The rotating gantry will be combined with CT and MRI to irradiate the actual cancer cells while viewing them. This is a technology that many doctors are calling for, even in cancer treatment with X-ray irradiation. 'Whatever doctors want to do with X-ray therapy, they should also want to do with heavy ion therapy.' says Takeshita, explaining the actual circumstances.
'Heavy ion beams should provide more benefits than X-rays because they can irradiate cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy,' says Iwai. 'Of course, there are cost obstacles in to adding MRI to the current system. But there's no doubt that it will change the world of cancer treatment.
'Currently, insurance coverage for heavy ion cancer therapy covers three sites: the prostate, head and neck, and bone and soft tissue. By accumulating clinical trial data, we would like to contribute to the expert meeting of the
X-ray treatment is the rival. Competing to become the major treatment
The conventional wisdom is that X-rays are the mainstream of cancer radiotherapy. To popularize heavy ion cancer therapy, clinical trials must demonstrate its superiority over X-rays.
'The foundation of radiotherapy is statistics. The medical field needs to accumulate data on the survival rate after 5 or 10 years and the incidence of side effects. We can't contend in any way unless we gain the numbers. I think someone needs to take the lead in doing this on a global scale,' says Takeshita.
This calls for a user group that brings together facilities that have installed heavy ion therapy equipment to exchange opinions. 'There is a need to hear real voices from the user's perspective on topics like what the future holds for heavy ion cancer therapy, and what kind of technological development is needed,' she says. 'Toshiba is growing its customer base both in
They are aiming to move away from the 'nichest of niche' to popularize heavy ion cancer therapy.
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