With cancer survival rate increasing, now life after treatment has become more significant. Therefore, Korea is improving the quality of life of patients by eradicating cancer through the latest cancer treatment technologies, which are proven to be safe and effective. We introduce you to the newest cancer treatment technology that is leading to the advancement of the Korean medical community. <Editor’s note>
Baryon therapy device is the best cancer treatment equipment existing. Being described as a “sharpshooter” by a globally prestigious scientific journal, Nature, baryon therapy device demonstrates a complete recovery of about 42% for recurrent cancers, following 100% for prostate cancer, 90% for liver cancer and 80% for lung cancer. Plus, it is also known as a “dream cancer treatment device” because of the great ability to kill cancer cells with barely any side effects or pain.
Yonsei University Health System (YUHS) will begin Korea’s first baryon therapy. Once the treatment device operates, more than 1,500 cancer patients a year are expected to receive the treatment. Currently, with 2 in Germany, 1 in Italy, 1 in Austria, 6 in Japan, and 3 in China, a total of 13 devices are running in the world, having treated more than 20 thousand patients ever since it was implemented in1994.
Baryon therapy device accelerates the baryon particle (carbon particle) to 70% of the lightspeed and projects it on cancer tissues. Baryon particles release radiation energy as soon as they reach the cancer tissues, destroying the DNA of cancer cells. It is found that because the mass is about 12 times heavier than that of a proton, the death rate of the cancer cell is more than three times higher.
The treatment period is also short. Existing radiation or proton therapy performs an average of 30 times. On the other hand, baryon therapy requires only 12 times. Compared to radiation therapy, which lasts from five to seven weeks, the treatment for early lung cancer will be completed within once, two times for liver cancer, and three weeks for prostate or head and neck cancer, which takes the longest period.
The treatment target is about 20 percent of all cancer patients in Korea. It can annually treat more than 10,000 people, including not only patients with cancers of lower five-year survival rates such as lung cancer, liver cancer, and pancreatic cancer, but also those with hardly operable recurrent rectal cancer, osteosarcoma, and elderly cancer patients.
According to data published in a medical journal by NIRS in Japan, the five-year survival rate has risen from below 20% to 53%, as a result of the implementation of baryon therapy before surgery on patients with operable pancreatic cancer. Besides, for patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer, the two-year survival rate has improved up to 66% by taking both anticancer drugs and baryon therapy.
The baryon therapy device that YUHS will perform is composed of a synchrotron, which is a particle accelerator, and a rotary gantry, which is a treatment device. A synchrotron is 20m in length and 1m in height while a rotary gantry is 9m long and weighs 200t, and the more technologically developed it is, the smaller in volume it becomes.
The present baryon therapy device has been applied to treat patients by relocating a patient table to fit the device. However, if a rotary gantry is applied, baryon particles can be examined at all angles through a 360° rotation, considerably reducing the patient's discomfort and treatment time. It can also minimize the amount of radiation irradiated in regular organs.
“We will actualize a true patient-centered treatment through baryon therapy, a world’s best cancer treatment,” Do-Heum Yoon, the president of YUHS emphasized, “Yonsei University Health System, which opened the first cancer center in Korea and a new chapter in cancer treatment, will once again lead the innovation of cancer treatment through baryon therapy.”
