As the number of cancer patients taking radiotherapy has kept on increasing at the SCC, a new Radiotherapy Wing has been built adjoining the Proton Therapy Facility. For this newly-built facility, the brand-new cutting-edged radiotherapy unit has been installed in addition to the existing three, which makes the four-unit system going into full-scale operation in the near future.
Currently, about 130 patients a day in average (including 1,653 newly-admitted patients for 2016 based on the annual survey) take radiotherapy (linac) at the SCC. The figure is one of the biggest in Japan among all the medical institutions equipped with radiotherapy facilities. Radiotherapy is a lower-impact cancer treatment than surgery or chemotherapy, either of which gives a patient rather a heavy physical burden. Therefore, radiotherapy can be a desirable cancer treatment for the aged patients.
At the SCC, the Division of Radiation Oncology, where linac radiation had been handled, and the Division of Proton Therapy had been two separate clinical divisions for years, but they merged into a newly-developed clinical division, (tentatively named) “the Radiation and Proton Therapy Center” in November, 2015. At this new division, it is now easier for a patient to make the best-suited choice for his/her symptom between conventional radiotherapy and proton therapy taking advantage of each type than before. Also, now it is possible for a patient to take the “interacted irradiation of radioactive ray and particle beam,” that is, combining both of conventional radiotherapy and proton therapy. This is included in the new types of radiotherapy developed at the new division, and the efforts are constantly made there aiming to become a primary facility for cancer treatment for the aged patients.
