The Yonsei University Health System (YUHS) will become Korea's first hospital to operate a heavy ion therapy device, regarded by physicians as a dream treatment for cancer patients when it receives approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in the first half of 2023.

 

Within Yonsei Cancer Center in Severance Hospital in Seoul, the hospital has installed a 20-meter diameter device with synchrotrons that accelerate carbon atoms close to the speed of light, creating a beam of super-strong energy.

There are currently 15 heavy ion therapy machines operating globally, with Japan operating seven, the largest. If YUHS receives approval from the drug ministry, Yonsei’s heavy ion therapy machine will mark the 16th global installment.

YUHS will operate one fixed-type heavy particle therapy device and two rotational-type devices to direct the beams to kill cancer cells.

Notably, YUHS is the world’s first hospital to introduce two rotational treatment devices.

Since the rotating type rotates 360 degrees and irradiates heavy ion particles, it is possible to intensively irradiate the patient's cancer cells from any direction and reduce the average number of treatments, the hospital explained. 

The number of treatments for heavy ion therapy is 12 times on average, which is half of X-ray and proton therapy.

The medical community often refers to heavy ion therapy as “a GPS guided-bomb” for cancer treatment, as it precisely targets cancer-affected areas with almost no damage to the surrounding tissue and cells.

As a result, most doctors agree that heavy ion therapy is more effective than conventional radiation and proton therapy currently in operation at other Korean hospitals.

The biological effect of heavy ion theory is known to be two to three times better than X-rays and protons because heavy ion has a mass ratio of 12 times heavier than that of protons, which results in a heavy ion having a greater impact when reaching cancer cells.

In addition, the characteristics of heavy ions that emit maximum energy at the target point can further increase the impact on cancer cells.

The heavy ion accelerator has been installed in the basement of Yonsei Cancer Center in Severance Hospital in Seoul. (Credit: YUHS)
The heavy ion accelerator has been installed in the basement of Yonsei Cancer Center in Severance Hospital in Seoul. (Credit: YUHS)

"To put things into perspective, if an X-ray/proton therapy machine shoots out ping-pong ball, heavy ion therapy device shoots out golf balls," the hospital said.

The hospital further stressed that while x-rays affect all living tissues from the skin to the arrival of cancer cells in the body, which requires energy adjustment in consideration of damage to normal cells, heavy ion emits less radiation on the body surface and uses most of the energy on the target cancer tissue.

Since minimizing the impact on normal tissues other than cancer cells means fewer side effects of treatment, the hospital expects that it will improve the overall treatment process for cancer patients in addition to excellent treatment effects.

 

Which cancer patients will get heavy ion therapy first? 

While the treatment time per patient is only about two minutes, the preparation process takes time, so the hospital plans to treat about 320 patients a year.

Although heavy ion therapy can treat all solid cancers, the hospital plans to start treating prostate cancer patients first and move on to other solid cancers.

"Heavy ion therapy will contribute to increasing the survival rate in various solid cancers such as pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, and liver cancer," Professor Yoon Hong-in of the Department of Radiation Oncology told Korea Biomedical Review. "Therefore, we expect that the therapy will be widely used in the treatment of rare cancers such as bone and soft tissue sarcoma, chordoma, and malignant melanoma, as well as prostate cancer due to its low side effects and excellent patient convenience compared to existing treatments."

Yoon stressed that the therapy has already proved its efficacy through many real-use cases in Japan.

The hospital also expects that by operating heavy ion therapy in Korea, it will be able to partially lift the financial burden of Korean patients who have been receiving heavy ion therapy in Japan or Germany.

While the hospital has yet to finalize the cost of the heavy ion therapy, industry watchers expect it will cost about 50 million won ($38,400) for the entire treatment process as it has not received reimbursement.

Despite such high costs, the hospital says it is much cheaper than receiving heavy ion therapy abroad, as patients had to pay up to 100 million won overseas.

Plus, Korean patients will no longer have to worry about the possibility of contacting illegal brokers or frauds, the hospital said.

Disputes could arise between a patient and a broker when the patient receives treatments other than heavy ion treatment such as general anticancer drugs, thermotherapy, and photodynamic therapy.

YUHS also said it is considering a plan to treat the medically vulnerable who cannot receive treatment due to lack of money, even though they need to receive heavy ion treatment.

As receiving health insurance benefits would alleviate some of the financial burdens, the hospital said it planned to continue the discussion with the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) so that more patients can benefit from the treatment.

Meanwhile, a hospital official told Korea Biomedical Review that YUHS also has plans to treat foreign patients as well.

"However, there are no concrete plans as of yet as we have to receive approval first," he said.

 

 

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