An oncology hospital featuring the application of domestic heavy ion accelerators will be developed in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WHDZ) -- located in Wuhan city in Central China’s Hubei province -- according WHDZ officials.
It will be the only hospital in Central China and only the fourth hospital in China to use heavy ion radiotherapy to treat tumors.
Officials said that this major medical center construction project, with an investment of 2.4 billion yuan ($339 million), will start construction in September.
The treatment of tumors with heavy ion radiation is one of the most advanced tumor treatment technologies in the world. In traditional radiotherapy, X-rays and photon rays are used. When they kill cancer cells, they will also kill normal cells.
In the new technology, through medical heavy ion accelerators, carbon ions that are invisible to the naked eye can be driven into the patient at a speed of 210,000 kilometers per second -- and the cancerous cells can be accurately isolated and destroyed without injuring normal cells.
Compared with imported products, Chinese-made medical heavy ion accelerators have the advantages of lower prices and maintenance costs, while the scanning modes and controls are preferred by local operators.
The domestic medical heavy ion accelerators have already been used in heavy ion tumor hospitals in Lanzhou and Wuwei in Gansu province.
The medical center project in WHDZ will be the third hospital in China to use the domestic equipment.
