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| Hyogo Ion Beam Medical Center and SPring-8 in Harima Science Garden City , Hyogo |
Hyogo Ion Beam Medical Center |
Recent
advancements in medicine have improved the overall cure rate of various cancer
to more than 50%. In addition to increasing the cure rate, we believe the time
has come to strive toward improving the quality of life of those that are
cured.
Radiotherapy
is a cancer treatment modality, which is used to cure tumors without surgical
resection. Unfortunately, varying
degrees of undesirable damage to normal tissue is inevitable with the use of
conventional radiotherapy with X- orγ-rays because it is difficult to irradiate
only the tumor volume. Ion beams, including protons and carbon-ions, are now expected to resolve
this problem because they can be focused at the tumor much more precisely
than X orγ-rays. Hyogo Ion Beam Medical Center opened its
door in April of 2001 as the world’s first institution where both proton and
carbon-ion therapy can be performed.
Our Goals1.Speedy return of cancer patients to normal life Protons or carbon-ions are far superior to X- orγ-rays in localizing the radiation dose to the target tumor volume. In addition, carbon-ions are nearly two times more effective than are X- orγ-rays in killing cancer cells. It is therefore expected that those ion beams can cure early stage tumors with minimal damage to normal tissues. These characteristics of ion beam radiotherapy will expedite patients’ return to cancer - free normal lives and /or work. 2. Targeting primary tumors Ion beam radiotherapy is a highly sophisticated treatment and as such it requires a great amount of time and personnel for treatment planning and preparation. Therefore, we plan to use ion beam radiotherapy for primary tumors with the intent to cure and not as a palliative treatment for advanced cancers with metastasis. Ion beam radiotherapy is particularly effective against malignant tumors originating in the head and neck, lung, liver, prostate, bone and soft tissues. 3.A new concept in cancer treatment and patient care Our aim is to treat cancer patients in a highly relaxed atmosphere in order to relieve the patients’ fear of the disease. We have adapted a totally new philosophy in designing our hospital, creating a world-class cancer treatment facility with a resort-like atmosphere. 4.Hospital opened to the world There are few institutions where both proton and carbon-ion therapy are available in the world. We are committed to providing ion beam radiotherapy to as many patients as possible from Japan as well as other countries from around the world. 5.Optimal treatment planning and data dissemination Located near our ion beam medical center, the world’s most powerful 3rd generationsynchrotron radiation (SR) facility produces high-energy photons with an 8 GeV storage ring. The SR is a highly directional and collimated beam, and is about 100 million times more brilliant than conventional X-rays. It is hoped that its spatial and contrast resolution may enable us to visualize very fine structures of tumor bearing areas and determine the target volume with precision. The SR will then allow us to deliver ion beam radiotherapy with unparalleled accuracy to the target tumor volume. We will serve as a major resource of information on this newly developed, stateof the art, ion beam radiotherapy to other institutions. Our center is located on the beautiful highlands of Hyogo surrounded by hills and green forests. There are serene strolling paths and a golf course near the center, which patients can enjoy during treatment. Our goal is to provide a holistic treatment to heal both body and mind by treating patients in a comfortable and peaceful environment. We consider ion beam radiotherapy of cancer as a complex art of medicine and precision science. Mitsuyuki Abe,M.D. |