Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) signed a contract on Monday to introduce a heavy ion radiotherapy device provided by the consortium of Toshiba and DK Medical Solutions.

The number of cancer patients is increasing globally, and more than 200,000 people are diagnosed with cancer as of 2015 in Korea, SNUH said.

Seoul National University Hospital signed an agreement on Monday with the consortium of Toshiba and DK Medical Solutions for installing a heavy ion therapy system in Gijang Country, Busan. (SNUH)

Cancer therapy mainly involves surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, but radiation therapy is significant for local treatments in gastric or breast cancer. The number of patients receiving radiation therapy is steadily increasing. Over a third of domestic patients are receiving radiation therapy. In the U.S., more than half of cancer patients receive radiation therapy.

However, the general public and even some doctors who do not perform radiation therapy, have fear of the treatment.

Radiation therapy is usually delivered by a photon and particle beam. The photon beam completely passes through the body, while the particle beam, including a heavy ion beam, only penetrates to a certain depth, causing fewer side effects than photon beams.

The heavy ion radiotherapy can cure intractable cancers that could not be treated before with its high tumor-killing ability. It protects normal cells as much as possible while delivering most of the radiation dose only to cancer cells, significantly reducing side effects.

Particle therapy can be applied to all cancers, but the device cannot be installed in every hospital due to the high cost.

SNUH explained that it is reasonable in terms of cost-effectiveness to use it for intractable cancer that does not work well with X-rays or surgical methods.

In particular, the therapy will be mainly used to treat sarcoma, pancreatic cancer, recurrent rectal cancer, and head and neck cancer. Also, a one-time treatment method has been developed for early-stage lung and liver cancer.

Twelve places are now operating heavy ion therapy device in the world, including six in Japan. Four institutions, including those in Korea, are preparing to introduce the equipment.

The Ministry of Science and ICT has been pushing for the project to introduce the heavy ion treatment device, and SNUH will pay 75 billion won ($63.23 million) for it.

“We have named the medical center installing the heavy ion radiotherapy device in Gijang County, Busan, as the Gijang Cancer Center of SNUH,” said Professor Wu Hong-gyun of the Department of Radiation Oncology of SNUH. “The center will begin heavy ion therapy in 2025.”

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