3 clinical trials of tumor heavy ion beam therapy

November 2006 to March this year, the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Lanzhou GeneralHospital of Lanzhou Military Region, theof theCancerHospital in Gansu Province,and other medical units carried out three clinical trials oftumorheavy ion beam therapy, making China the fourth country in the world to conduct clinical trials of heavy ion beam anti-cancer after the United States, Japan and GermanyMoreover, it is gratifying that 28 patients have achieved results after reionizing radiation therapyExperts involved in the study pointed out that heavy ion beam is now recognized as one of the ideal radiotherapy rays in the 21st century, in recent years, many countries in the world have poured a lot of human and material resources for heavy ion beam radiotherapy technology and device research, and China's related research has been keeping up with the pace of international developmentIt is expected to break the limitation of conventional radiotherapy
according to statistics, the current five-year survival rate of cancer patients treated by different methods reached more than 45%, of which nearly 40% were treated with radiationHowever, it is noteworthy that conventional radiation therapy has long been used in electron beams, X-rays and gamma rays, although sometumorhas a better efficacy, and radiation therapy equipment is tightly designed, but due to its physical and biological characteristics of the defects, the normal tissues and organs around the tumor will still be exposed to a considerable dose of radiationIn order to avoid damage to normal tissues around the tumor, especially important tissues and organs sensitive to radiation, the total dose is sometimes reduced, but this leads to a reduction in cure rates Every year, 100,000 cancer patients in the United States fail treatment because local tumors are not under control after radiation therapy In order to break through this limitation, the medical community began to focus on heavy ion beam therapy According to experts, the treatment of cancer by heavy ion beams has a series of physical and biological advantages: First, the depth dose distribution is good Heavy ions lose less energy in their passages as they run through the target material, thus forming a relatively low-dose flat zone, while a high-dose energy loss peak (Bragg peak) is formed near the end of its range By adjusting the energy of the beam flow, the position of Bragg peak in the body can be changed, so that the heavy ion beam bragg peak is positioned in the tumor target area, and bragg peak can be extended wide according to the thickness of the tumor, to achieve uniform treatment of the tumor target area Second, the energy deposition range is more accurate, the dose edge is clear, is conducive to precise treatment (mm magnitude) Third, the density of the energy transfer line (LET) is high, which can improve the radiation sensitivity of oxygen-aphrosque cells in the tumor Fourth, the use of heavy ion seconconfide, can be scanned magnets to guide the beam flow, so that it according to the shape of the tumor fault accurate irradiation, so that the shape and adjustment of the treatment Fifth, the application of positron emission tomography (PET) device can monitor the positive electron annihilation radiation of nuclear reaction products, and realize on-line monitoring Sixth, the relative biological effect (RBE) in the Bragg peak area is high, which is conducive to the efficient killing of cancer cells in the target area The seventh is that the lethal effect of cells in the Bragg peak region is almost independent of the phase of the cell cycle, i.e the late radiation resistance of the cell has a filamentous division period disappears, showing almost the same radiation sensitivity as cells with fission-splitting period Relevant clinical research is widely valued
it is understood that the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) in the United States in 1975 pioneered its use of its high-energy synchrotron (BEVALAC) for heavy ion beam therapy clinical research By 1992, it had treated 2,487 cancer patients Although the beam distribution system and treatment system were not perfect at that time, the local control rate for selected tumors was 2 to 3 times higher than that of electron beam, X-ray and gamma-ray treatment, and the cure rate was significantly improved LBL follow-up studies of related patients continue Japan established the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator (HIMAC) at the National Institute of Radiological Medicine (NIRS) in 1993 By the end of 2006, the agency treated more than 3000 cases of tumor patients, with a three-year local control rate of more than 67% Among them, the 3-year local control rate of head and neck tumor was greater than 61%, the local control rate of the cranial tumor was greater than 92%, the local control rate of lung and liver cancer was greater than 72%, and the three-year local control rate of prostate cancer was 100% In November 2003, the Government of Japan accepted and recognized the heavy ion beam cancer as a highly advanced medical technology, and plans to build 60 heavy ion beam treatment centers in the country to enable Japanese cancer patients to benefit from heavy ion beam therapy In 1996, the German Heavy Ion Research Center (GSI) was established GSI draws on the treatment characteristics and treatment experience of heavy ion beams in the United States and Japan, develops and applies two technical means, such as advanced grid scanning beam distribution system and PET treatment quality assurance, and achieves heavy ion beam-modulation radiation therapy and real-time online monitoring of beam flow In 2002, due to GSI's two-year local control rate of 100 per cent for each of the 50 cases of two types of cranial tumors, the German government authorities issued a license for the treatment of both cancers with heavy ion beams, making the treatment of cranial spinal rhyoma and granular sarcoma a formal treatment in Germany GSI is currently developing more evidence of heavy ion beam therapy In addition, some countries with heavy ion accelerators, such as France and Italy, as well as countries that do not currently have heavy ion accelerators, such as Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, etc., are also in the process of establishing heavy ion beam treatment facilities From the early 1990s to the present, the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has taken the lead in carrying out basic research on the technology of heavy ion beam cancer in China, and has undertaken more than a dozen subjects such as the National Ninth Five-Year Climbing Plan, the National Natural Science Foundation Key Project, the National High-Tech Research and Development Program, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the provincial and ministerial levels, and has carried out heavy ion beam radiation physics, radiation biology research and animal experiments, and obtained a number of basic data for the treatment of heavy ion beam cancer with important value In September 2000, at the 145th Xiangshan Scientific Conference organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, more than 30 scientists and experts from different disciplines agreed after in-depth discussion that heavy ion beam cancer treatment is the most scientific, advanced and superior anti-cancer means in radiation therapy today; Accordingly, the experts made suggestions to the relevant departments of the state: based on the Lanzhou Heavy Ion Research Device (HIRFL), as soon as possible in the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to establish a "National Research Center for Heavy Ion Beam Cancer" to promote the development of China's heavy ion beam anti-cancer research; Build heavy ion beam anti-cancer device, realize the clinical trial of heavy ion beam therapy of shallow tumor as soon as possible, support the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to apply for a major national scientific project to establish a heavy ion beam treatment device for deep tumors in human body on the ColdFL-CSR cooling storage ring (HIRFL-CSR) The progress of related treatment research in China is encouraging
with the strong support of the relevant departments of the state, in the past two years, the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has successfully developed a clinical trial device for the treatment of shallow tumor heavy ion beam, and together with the medical unit, has developed a standard for clinical treatment test research, and established a clinical research base for the treatment of tumors in Gansu Province In November 2006, the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in its independent innovation and development of shallow tumor heavy ion beam treatment device, the first time to Lanzhou General Hospital, Lanzhou Military District, treatment of 4 patients under the subcutaneous 1.5 cm tumor a course of clinical trial treatment, resulting in about 10 days after the course of the tumor has been reduced by 40% to 60% In January this year, they also treated 10 patients in Gansu Cancer Hospital and Lanzhou General Hospital in Lanzhou Military District for clinical treatment of tumors smaller than 2.5 cm below the skin This time the researchers appropriately improved the daily treatment radiation after 8 days of treatment of the tumor has been reduced by 40% to 60% The vast majority of patients in these two clinical trials for heavy ion beam cancer were those who were ineffective through surgery, chemotherapy and other radiotherapy (X-ray, gamma-ray and electron beam therapy) The entire treatment process did not use any drug-assisted treatment, the patient did not appear any skin reaction, the whole body without any discomfort, peripheral blood test normal Three patients involved in the first clinical treatment study had their tumors completely gone after two months of treatment In March 2007, the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted the third clinical trial of heavy ion beam therapy, treating a total of 14 patients in the third batch On the basis of the success of the last division, the researchers treated the tumor patients with larger lesions (2 to 9 wilds), and 14 patients treated a total of 46 fields, further expanding the range of treatable tumors At the same time, the single dose of treatment (total dose unchanged) was also increased, reducing the patient's treatment time The effect of this treatment is being observed It is understood that at present, Germany and Japan's heavy ion beam anti-cancer device has achieved industrialization A special device for the treatment of more than 1,000 patients per year for heavy ion beam sydd sadions is quoted at a price of up to 100 million euros (about 1 billion yuan) HirFL-CSR, a major national scientific project under construction by the Modern Physics Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been able to accelerate the carbon ions to reach the single nuclear energy 7 megaelectron volts to 1000 megaelectron volts and the number of carbon ions per beam is greater than 1.5 x 109 to 2 x 109, basically can meet the requirements of the single nuclear energy required for anti-cancer in the whole body (any part of the body) about 80 megaelectron volts to 430 megavolts and about 100 million electron electron sions per beam China has the conditions for conducting clinical trials of deep tumor therapy and realizing the industrialization of heavy ion beam anti-cancer special devices, which can not only promote the leap-forward development of independent innovation of large-scale medical equipment, but also greatly reduce the cost of treatment for patients, so that heavy ion beam radiotherapy will further benefit the society Related links: heavy ions are a positively charged nucleus of atoms with an atomic number greater than or equal to 2 that is stripped or partially stripped off the peripheral electrons Because of the unique physical characteristics of heavy ions and the special energy deposition methods in matter, heavy ions show great application prospects in various disciplines, especially heavy ion anti-cancer represents the development trend of tumor positioning radiotherapy, and its related biological research has become a hot and cutting-edge topic in the cross-disciplinary research of radiobiology, radiology, radiotherapy and heavy ion physics (reproduced from China Medical Daily)