A heavy ion medical center is to be built in Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WHDZ) in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, with construction work already underway, according to Changjiang Daily.
On completion, it will be the only hospital in Central China - and only the fourth hospital in the whole country - to use heavy ion radiotherapy to treat tumors.
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.
Studies have shown that heavy ions treat tumors by accelerating carbon ions and other (heavy ions) to about 70 percent of the speed of light. The advantage of this treatment method is that the radiation is aimed at the tumor, and it does little harm to normal tissues. But not all tumors can be treated with this system, and it is primarily used for solid tumors such as liver cancer and brain tumors.
Compared with imported products, Chinese-made medical heavy ion accelerators have the advantages of lower prices and maintenance costs, while the scanning procedures 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, and Shanghai.
