Asan Medical Center’s “construction of 800-bed Asan Cheongra Hospital underway”, which will take 5 years.
![While Severance Hospital is launching the Korea's first 'heavy ion therapy' in the first half of the year, Seoul National University Hospital and Asan Medical Center are also preparing to introduce it. [Photo courtesy of Seoul National University Hospital and Asan Medical Center]](/news/photo/202303/135775_123529_5222.jpg)
‘Heavy ion therapy’ is thought to be a dream cancer treatment.
In this treatment, carbon atoms are accelerated and ionized, with which only cancer cells are irradiated, and it is called bloodless, painless and recurrence-free treatment. The treatment is targeted to patients with stage 1-3 prostate, pancreas, lung, and liver cancer that has not metastasized.
Heavy ion therapy is 2.5 to 3 times more effective in killing cancer cells than conventional radiation therapy, which accelerates electrons, or proton therapy, which accelerates hydrogen. It is coming to Korea after Japan, China, Germany, Italy, and Taiwan.
According to Severance Hospital on March 2, the hospital will begin to treat prostate gland cancer with a fixed-type machine in the first half of the year, and a rotating machine will be operational by the end of the year to treat all solid cancers such as pancreatic, lung and liver cancers except blood cancers.
Costs will range from 40 million to 50 million won and may reach 100 million won depending on the depth of the cancer.
Following Severance Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital and Asan Medical Center are preparing to introduce heavy ion therapy, among other "big five" hospitals.
Seoul National University Hospital is pushing forward with construction of the Gijang Cancer Center, which will have facilities for heavy ion therapy. It aims to open the center in 2027 near the Southeast Regional Nuclear Medical Institute in Gijang-gun, Busan.
Seoul National University Hospital completed the contract for the particle accelerator unit and the interim design for the Heavy Ion Therapy Center, and last year, signed the contract for the Treatment Planning System (TPS) and Radiation Oncology Information System (OIS) with RaySearch Laboratories.
Asan Medical Center is also considering the introduction of heavy ion therapy.
An official from Asan Medical Center said, "We visited the heavy ion therapy hospital and manufacturers in Japan last year to collect information, and it will take about 5 years to introduce it because it requires construction of a special building", adding "We are also considering Asan Cheongra Hospital, which is designed with 800 beds for a smart medical environment, although it is in the review stage.“
Samsung Medical Center and the National Cancer Center have the proton therapy accelerator.
Proton therapy is a second-generation anti-cancer treatment that minimizes damage to surrounding tissues by irradiating only cancer cells with proton rays at 1 million times higher intensity than conventional ones. It is covered by health insurance and thus costs 1 million won per session (based on 20 sessions per year).
Samsung Medical Center’s proton therapy has reached 5,000 cumulative patient cases in seven years since it first started in 2015. The most common cancer types treated were liver cancer, followed by head and neck cancer, lung cancer, and brain tumors. 10% of the entire patients having undergone proton therapy were young patients with pediatric cancer.
Catholic University's Seoul St. Mary's Hospital also plans to introduce a proton therapy accelerator.
An official from St. Mary's Hospital said, "We are planning to build a high-tech medical welfare center with a proton therapy accelerator. We will strengthen our medical treatment capabilities for severe and intractable diseases with state-of-the-art equipment and devices."
[WIKI KOREA=Cho Eun, Reporter]
choeun@wikileaks-kr.org
