Proton therapy in liver cancer

In the past two decades, the number of deaths caused by liver cancer has increased by 80%, becoming one of the fastest-growing causes of cancer deaths worldwide.

Liver cancer mortality ranks second in the world for cancer deaths

According to the “Global Burden of Disease Study," 830,000 people died of liver cancer in 2016, compared with 464,000 in 1990. This makes liver cancer the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The first is lung cancer. Primary liver cancer is the most common liver cancer in the world and can be attributed to heavy drinking and other lifestyle choices, but the most common cause is long-term infection with the hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus. These viruses are a major public health challenge, affecting more than 325 million people worldwide.

Patients with limited treatment methods are very embarrassed. Once hepatocellular carcinoma (abbreviated as hepatocellular carcinoma) is diagnosed as advanced stage, portal vein tumor thrombus or distant metastasis is often associated with it, and the chance of surgery is lost. The prognosis of liver cancer patients is poor, and the 5-year survival rate is only about 12%. Lung cancer mortality and morbidity are the highest, but the reason why liver cancer mortality is close to lung cancer is not high morbidity but limited treatment methods. Liver cancer is almost insensitive to chemotherapeutic drugs and a few targeted drugs. Sorafenib has been monopolizing the liver cancer market for ten years. Once the patient loses the opportunity for surgery, only sorafenib is available and will soon become resistant. At most, you can use radiotherapy to relieve symptoms, so the situation of liver cancer patients is very embarrassing. It was not until December last year that the treatment of liver cancer in China broke the current dominance of sorafenib. Bayer's targeted anti-tumor drug Regofenib (Baiwango), was officially approved by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA). In patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have been previously treated with sorafenib. It is not enough for patients with rapidly progressing liver cancer to only market two targeted drugs. So can there be other treatments for liver cancer patients?

Proton therapy breaks the current status of liver cancer treatment and brings new hope to patients

You may not have known this kind of radiotherapy technique. Its parenchymal therapy is a “high-match” form of radiotherapy. Due to the unique treatment principle of proton therapy, it will not have as many side effects as ordinary radiotherapy, and it is suitable for patients with liver cancer at any time. What kind of treatment principle is it?

A proton is a particle where a hydrogen atom loses an electron. Proton therapy is to use a cyclotron or synchrotron to accelerate the electron nucleus to a speed of light of about 70%. It penetrates into the body and reaches cancer cells at this tremendous speed. At a specific location, the speed suddenly decreases and stops, forming a sharp dose peak at the end of the range, called the Bragg Peak, which releases the maximum energy and kills the cancer cells. Proton therapy can effectively protect surrounding normal tissues at the same time, with few side effects. For example, the heart and lungs around the liver are particularly important organs. Proton therapy can still effectively treat tumors while protecting the functions of these important organs or structures. The treatment will not have any impact, which is consistent with conventional radiotherapy. impossible.

The proton therapy time can be as short as five minutes, but the setting time of the machine and laser beam takes about 30 minutes. Once a day, every Friday, usually 15-40 times in a course of treatment. The benefits of proton therapy for immediate treatment of tumors may not be obvious, but the advantage will be obvious after a few years, especially for young patients, because proton therapy has few side effects and will not cause any harm to the body.

Successful sharing of proton therapy for 52-year-old liver cancer patients

The patient was diagnosed with liver cancer due to upper abdominal pain and was unable to undergo surgical treatment. Interventional treatment was given once, and the effect was not good. Consult CancerFax for further treatment and recommend proton therapy based on the patient’s condition. CancerFax collects all the patient’s medical records and submits them to well-known domestic experts. After multidisciplinary consultations, the patients can be protoned.

The size of the tumor was about 10.93 * 11.16 cm before proton therapy, about 10.43 * 10.19 cm after one month of proton therapy, about 860.06 cm³ before proton therapy, about 702.69 cm³ after one month of proton therapy, and about 157.37 cm³ of tumor shrinkage. The symptoms improved significantly. Three months later, the tumor is still shrinking. The patient has no other side effects and can live a normal life.

The application of proton therapy is very wide. In addition to liver cancer, proton therapy covers almost all solid tumors of the body (as shown below), such as lung cancer, brain cancer, ovarian cancer, etc. For inoperable patients, patients who are intolerant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and have no other treatment options, proton therapy brings hope to many patients with solid tumors. Due to the almost zero side effects, proton therapy will be of great concern. Expect proton therapy to shine in the cancer field.

CancerFax teamed up with the world-renowned proton center to create an authoritative domestic proton therapy evaluation consultation center, which can connect patients with the most suitable proton therapy in the world and assist patients in evaluation and medical treatment. The United States, India, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and mainland China have authoritative proton therapy centers; you can choose according to your own needs! However, no matter where you go for proton therapy, you need to submit medical records for evaluation. Patients who are inconvenienced by face-to-face consultations can conduct a remote expert consultation to assess whether they meet the treatment requirements.