The first proton therapy center in our region of Europe will start operating in Bronowice near Krakow in the third quarter of 2015 – it was announced on Wednesday at a press conference in Warsaw.
The center is being built at the Bronowice Cyclotron Center near Krakow, an institution of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. On Wednesday, a letter of intent in this matter was signed by the director of the Warsaw Oncology Center, prof. Krzysztof Warzocha and the director of the IFJ PAN, prof. Marek Jeżabek.
Prof. Warzocha told journalists that proton therapy is the latest method of treating tumors located in particularly difficult places, which cannot be removed with previously available methods or exposes the patient to serious complications. “This therapy is used only in a dozen or so centers around the world, mainly in the United States and Western Europe. There is only one such center in China so far, ”he said.
Prof. Jeżabek added that in Bronowice proton therapy is already used in patients with melanoma of the eyeball. It is the most common internal eye cancer in adults; it accounts for 20 percent. eyeball melanomas. So far, about 100 patients with this cancer have been operated in this way in our country.
Currently, two proton therapy stations are being prepared. In one, partially running, eyeball tumors will be treated. In the second, which is to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2015, it will be possible to remove tumors located anywhere in the body, said Director IFJ PAN.
He added that at each station annually it will be possible to treat at least 350 patients, i.e. a total of 700 patients. In his opinion, this should meet the most urgent needs of treatment with this method in Poland.
National consultant for oncological radiotherapy prof. Rafał Dziadziuszko said that thanks to this, it will not be necessary to send patients abroad for proton therapy. Currently, several dozen patients are sent to the USA and Western Europe under the National Health Fund each year for this treatment, he told PAP. And this is an expensive therapy. In the United States, for the treatment of one patient with this method, you have to pay 80-90 thousand. dollars.
Director of the Oncology Center in Krakow, prof. Jerzy Jakubowicz hopes that proton therapy performed in our country will be financed by the National Health Fund. We proposed a refund of 150. PLN – he said. The Fund pays 55 for the treatment of melanoma of the eyeball with this method. zloty.
Proton therapy saves the eye of a patient with melanoma of the eyeball. He will not see the same as before the detection of the disease, but thanks to it he can keep the eye and the ability to see in it – said Prof. Jakubowicz.
Director of the Oncology Center in Gliwice, prof. Bogusław Maciejewski emphasized that this is the main advantage of proton therapy. This is not some miracle cure for cancer that has never been possible before. Thanks to it, we can only operate on hard-to-reach tumors, the treatment of which with other methods is associated with serious complications or mutilation of the patient. For this reason, it is of particular use in children, he said.
In proton therapy, proton radiation is used to irradiate neoplastic changes. It has the advantage that it allows to concentrate the optimal dose in the tumor itself, saving healthy tissues located shallower (due to the so-called inverse dose profile resulting from the Bethe-Bloch formula).
President of the Polish Society of Oncological Surgery, prof. Piotr Rutkowski told the PAP journalist that conventional photon radiotherapy penetrates all tissues of the irradiated site. Therefore, it cannot be used in the case of tumors that are too deep or close to critical tissues and organs.
In these most sensitive areas of the body, proton therapy is more useful. It can be used to remove certain cancers of the head and neck, in the area of the spinal cord and pelvis – explained Prof. Rutkowski. The effectiveness of this method is estimated at 95-98% in terms of the possibility of removing neoplastic lesions.
Apart from treatment, research is also to be conducted at the Cyclotron Center in Bronowice. We will implement them mainly at night and on weekends, i.e. when the device will not be used by patients – said Director IFZ PAN, prof. Hedgehog. The modern cyclotron has been built since 2011 as part of the Innovative Economy Program.
Zbigniew Wojtasiński (PAP)
Read more: Proton therapy – a new weapon in the fight against cancer