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Proton therapy :
A breakthrough in cancer care
At the “ Advanced Modalities in Cancer Treatment ” event , Mount Elizabeth Hospitals specialists as well as guest doctors from around the region discussed proton therapy and other latest offerings in cancer care . By Christel Gomes
Proton Therapy delivers minimal entrance radiation and stops without moving beyond the tumour
Proton therapy spares the surrounding healthy organs and tissues from detrimental radiation .
Dr Prem Kumar Nair , CEO of IHH Healthcare Singapore kicked off the event with a quick overview of current cancer statistics : in Southeast Asia alone , we see an estimated 2.2 million cases and 1.4 million deaths annually 1 . In Singapore , 26.4 % of all deaths are due to cancer 2 .
Given cancer ’ s prevalence , Dr Peter Chow , CEO of Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital , said Mount Elizabeth is proud to be the first private hospital in South East Asia to offer proton therapy in addition to Gamma Knife and TrueBeam linear acceleration radiation therapy . With the opening of the proton therapy centre and the estimated availability of proton clinical services in early 2023 , Mount Elizabeth further strengthens advanced modalities in radiation oncology treatments , complemented by medical and surgical oncology multidisciplinary care options for patients .
What is Proton therapy and how does it work ? Proton therapy is a highly advanced and precise radiation option that destroys cancer cells , and it differs from other radiation options such as photon therapy in some very important ways – the main difference is that when the beam of radiation is shot into the body targeting the area of cancer , it delivers minimal entrance radiation and stops without moving beyond the tumour . In other words , there is no exit dose . Thus , proton therapy spares the surrounding healthy organs and tissues from detrimental radiation , explained Dr Edward Yang , Radiation Oncologist at Mount Elizabeth Hospitals , Gleneagles Hospital and Parkway Cancer Centre .
In explaining how it works , Dr Yang said , “ A proton is a subatomic particle found in the nucleus of every atom . The particle has a positive electric charge , equal and opposite to the electron . Proton therapy is essentially a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons that can be modulated to irradiate diseased tissue , most often to treat cancer . With traditional x-ray therapy ( linear accelerators ), electrons are accelerated to the speed of light ( 300 000 km per second ), whereas with proton therapy we accelerate the protons to 2 / 3rd the speed of light ( 200 000km / s ) using a cyclotron . Then , magnets are used to modulate the beams .”
58 ISSUE 5 | 2022 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com