Proton Medical Research Center, The University of Tsukuba
More than 1,000 cancer patients had been treated from 1983 to 2007 in PMRC, Proton Medical Research Center, one of the oldest medical institution specializing in Proton Therapy for different cancers since its establishment of 1983.
Like standard photon radiotherapy, the effects of Proton Therapy would be significantly different for dose optimization methods, and calibration to the unique property of individual diseases. Usually, the therapeutic methods and technical expertise improve only by treating more patients. Thus, the number of previous patients can be one good performance predictor of each Proton Therapy Center.
Along with National Cancer Center East Hospital, PMRC's extensive track records and long time expriences in Proton Therapy should benefit any cancer patients for knowledgeable advise and descent informed consent for the treatments.
| Diseases | # of patients during 1983-2007 |
|---|---|
| Liver Cancer | 604 |
| Prostate Cancer | 210 |
| Lung Cancer | 177 |
| Head and Neck Cancer | 132 |
| Metastatic Cancer | 117 |
| Esophagus Cancer | 107 |
| Brain Tumor | 95 |
| Bladder Cancer | 58 |
| Others | 246 |
| Diseases | stage / condition | toxicity | local contorl rate | 2 years survival rate | 5 years survival rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hepatocellular carcinoma | all patients | 86.8% for five years | 23.5% | ||
| solitary tumor | a small number of acute reactions | 53.5% | |||
| Hepatocellular carcinoma with portal vein tumor thrombus |
cT3-4N0M0 12 patients median age: 62 years old |
100% for the median follow-up period of 2.3 years | 67% | 24% | |
| Lung Cancer |
stage I: 28 patients stage II: 9 patients stage III: 8 patients stage IV: 1 patients Recurrence: 5 patients |
grade 1 toxicity: 47 patients grade 2: 3 patients grade 3: 1 patient grade 4: 0 patient |
29% | ||
| Stage IA: 9 | 89% for five years | 70% | |||
| Stage IB: 19 | 39% for five years | 16% | |||
| Esophagus Cancer | All patients |
34% 67% (disease specific) |
|||
| stage I: 23 patients | 83% |
55% 95% (disease specific) |
|||
| stage II/III/IV: 23 patients | 29% |
13% 33% (disease specific) |
|||
| Head and Neck Cancer | 33 patients without record of surgical resection | acute toxicity greater than grade 3: 7 patients | 74% for five years | 44% | |
|
Chordoma (skull base) |
13 patients | 46% for five years | 66.7% | ||
|
72.2% (disease specific) |
|||||
|
42.2% (disease free) |
Possibly Applicable Diseases
- Bladder cancer
- Bone cancer
- Bone tumor
- Brain cancer
- Brain tumor
- Chordoma
- Colon Cancer
- Colorectal Cancer
- Ear cancer
- Esophageal Cancer
- Eye cancer
- Face cancer
- Gallbladder cancer
- Head and Neck cancer
- Hepatic adenomas
- Hepatic Cell Cancer
- Liver Cancer
- Localized pelvic tumor
- Low grade chondrosarcoma
- Lung Cancer
- Neck cancer
- Nose cancer
- Prostate Cancer
- Rectal cancer
- Sarcoma
- Skull base chondrosarcomas
- Spine cancer
Duration of Therapy
Therapy usually spans 4 days to 8 weeks at maximum.
Cost
2,480,000 JPY ~
Reference
- Tsunashima Y, Sakae T, Shioyama Y, Kagei K, Terunuma T, Nohtomi A, Akine Y, Correlation between the respiratory waveform measured using a respiratory sensor and 3D tumor motion in gated radiotherapy. Int J Radiati Oncol Biol Phys. 60: 951-958, 2004
- 2. Nohtomi A, Sakae T, Terunuma T, Tsunashima Y, Hosono K and Hayakawa Y. Nucl Instr Meth in Phys Res. A 511: 382-387, 2003
- Chiba T, Tokuuye K, Matsuzaki Y, Sugahara S, Chuganji Y, Kagei K, Shoda J, Hata M, Abei M, Igaki H, Tanaka N, Akine Y. Proton Beam Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Retrospective Review of 162 Patients. Clinical Cancer Research.11:3799-3805, 2005
- Hata M, Tokuuye K, Sugahara S, Kagei K, Igaki H, Hashimoto T, Ohara K, Matsuzaki Y, Tanaka N, and Akine Y. Proton Beam Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Portal Vein Tumor Thrombus. Cancer. 107:591-598, 2006
- Shioyama Y, Tokuuye K, Okumura T, Kagei K, Sugahara S, Ohara K, Akine Y, Ishikawa S, Satoh H, Sekizawa K. Clinical evaluation of proton radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 56:7-13, 2003
- Sugahara S, Tokuuye K, Okumura T, Nakahara A, Saida Y, Kagei K, Ohara K, Hata M, Igaki H, Akine Y. Clinical results of proton beam therapy for cancer of the esophagus. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 61:76-84, 2005
- Tokuuye K, Akine Y, Kagei K, Hata M, Hashimoto T, Mizumoto T, Ohshiro Y, Sugahara S, Ohara K, Okumura T, Kusakari J, Yoshida H, Otsuka F. Proton therapy for head and neck malignancies at Tsukuba. Strahlenther Onkol. 180:96-101, 2004
- Igaki H, Tokuuye K, Okumura T, Sugahara S, Kagei K, Hata M, Ohara K, Hashimoto T, Tsuboi K, Takano S, Matsumura A, Akine Y. Clinical results of proton beam therapy for skull base chordoma.Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 60:1120-6, 2004
| Phone | +81-29-853-7100 |
|---|---|
| Address | 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8575, Japan |
| Division | Proton Beam Research |
| Approved advanced treatments | Proton Therapy / Proton Beam Therapy (Bladder cancer, Bone cancer, Bone tumor, Brain cancer, Brain tumor, Chordoma, Colon Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Ear cancer, Esophageal Cancer, Eye cancer, Face cancer, Gallbladder cancer, Head and Neck cancer, Hepatic adenomas, Hepatic Cell Cancer, Liver Cancer, Localized pelvic tumor, Low grade chondrosarcoma, Lung Cancer, Neck cancer, Nose cancer, Prostate Cancer, Rectal cancer, Sarcoma, Skull base chondrosarcomas, Spine cancer) |
| # of Beds | |
| Payment | 2,480,000 JPY for Proton Therapy |
International Hospital Ranking
Cancer Adoptive Cell Immunotherapy in Japan
Cell based Immunotherapy (Autologous immune enhancement therapy) has been more frequently practised in Japan.Techniques to harvest the cells are extremely intricate and delicate processes. For the treatments to be rountinely available to the cancer patients apart from the clinical trials, advanced engineering cell reprocessing center must be available with good corroboration with the hospitals.
Since Japan made the Immuno-Cell Therapy to be a part of health care systems, the cell processing centers (CPCs) rapidly increased in the past decades. For the therapy of high complexity such as dendritic cell / autologous enhancement immunotherapy to be regularly practiced in the hospital, those CPCs were essential, and this explains why much of innovations in cell based cancer immunotherapy took place in Japan.
Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) \ Endoscopic Mucosal Resection (EMR) in Japan
Both EMR and ESD was originally developed in Japan. EMR / ESD (endoscopic biopsy or polyp resection procedure on gastrointestinal tract) is the area that Japanese surgeons are leading the research at forefront. It is the minimally invasive endoscopic procedure that conserves organs / tissues, and patients can be discharged from the hospital in the same day or a week after the operations. It is usually applicable to early stage cancer / tumor, and improves the post-surgical health conditions such as loss of appetite, fever, chills, pains and life-long medication.
Proton Beam Therapy
Currently there are about 31 proton (or carbon ion) therapy facilities in the world, 8 of which is built in Japan. Proton Beam Therapy is much less invasive than other radiotherapy treatments, and can treat the cancer without incision of the body, and with much less side effects than X-ray treatments. Japan has invested in Proton beam therapy (PBT) / Carbon Ion Therapy infrastructure for a long time, and clinical level studies are numerous and thus well experienced with all kinds of localized tumors.
Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) on Liver cancer (Hepatocellular carcinoma)
Japan has been leading the RFA intervention technology for a long time, and the yearly number of RFA interventions in Japan currently exceeds that of United States and China. (See the Table below.) Survival rates for the patients undergoing the RFA are not different from those of surgery. But the surgery is harder to be operated multiple times, whereas the RFA is not restricted by the number of interventions or by the presence of Hepatitis. For this reason, RFA becomes a standard treatment in Japan.
| Yearly volume of RFA on Liver Cancer | |
|---|---|
| Japan | 34,000 |
| US | 14,000 |
| China | 9,500 |
Table: Yearly number of Radiofrequency ablation of Liver or hepatic tumors by country.
Regenerative Medicine on Dilated Cardiomyopathy, or Myocardial Infarction
Recent technological advances in cell sheets engineering extended to the pre-clinical trial of the treatment of heart disease patients often in need for the heart transplant.
Micro-Catheter treatments on varicose veins (including the veins below the knee)
In japan, complex operations towards varicose veins below the knee are established with safey and high response rates. Various catheter and micro-catheter devices are extensively used, and some of them are only available in Japan.
Cancer and Heart Disease Treatment in Japan
Medical technology in Japan for cancer screening and gastrointestinal diseases are known to be very strong, supported by good clinical statistics, i.e., high five year survival rate after the surgery (or radiology / chemotherapy) among the colon, rectal, stomach, and esophageal cancer patients as well as liver, lung, and larynx cancer (See Table below).
Since Japanese health agency is notoriously slow and counter-productive when it comes to the approval of new drugs, Japan's hospitals and patients suffered for so long by the technology lag from the rest of the world. Ironically, these regulatory problems lead physicians to the innovations in the fields other than drug discoveries, i.e., in the surgical / laparoscopic, endoscopic, micro-catheter procedures, cell based immunotherapy / vaccinations, radiation (carbon ion and proton beam), and regenerative medicine (iPS cells, cell sheets).
Since the Japanese physicians had less options in chemotherapy, they had more opportunities in experiencing difficult surgeries, and tried the new treatments due to the low availability of new drugs. Thus, many exotic and unique medical technologies emerged out of the isolations casued by the incompetence of Japanese health agency.
| Site (Survival Rate: %) |
7 Cancer Registrates in Japan |
US SEER Program | Eurocare-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Esophagus | 25 | 14 | 10 |
| Stomach | 58 | 22 | 23 |
| Colon | 66 | 62 | 51 |
| Rectum | 63 | 63 | 48 |
| Liver | 17 | 7 | 7 |
| Gallbladder | 18 | 16 | 12 |
| Pancreas | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Larynx | 77 | 65 | 62 |
| Lung, bronchus | 20 | 15 | 11 |