How Will Domestic Implementation of 'Heavy Ion Therapy' Be Used? National Cancer Center Hosts 'Cancer Conquest Forum'

The National Cancer Center and the Cancer Conquest Promotion Planning Group announced on the 19th that they will hold the 78th Cancer Conquest Forum on the afternoon of the 21st under the theme "New Opportunities in Cancer Treatment?? Proton Therapy and Carbon Ion Therapy."

Particle radiation therapies such as proton therapy and carbon ion therapy are known to have superior physical properties compared to conventional radiation therapy, offering the potential to improve treatment effectiveness and reduce radiation exposure to normal organs through optimized treatment that minimizes side effects, thereby enhancing cancer patients' survival rates and quality of life. Recently, the Severance Hospital Yonsei Cancer Center began operating a carbon ion therapy center and started treatment for prostate cancer patients for the first time in Korea, which has increased domestic interest.

However, proton therapy requires further clinical research and technological development to provide better treatment options. Carbon ion therapy, having a relatively short clinical application period, is also evaluated as lacking sufficient accumulated clinical data to assess and improve differences compared to existing treatment methods. Additionally, carbon ion therapy is a new technology that demands high beam irradiation accuracy and requires further technological development; thus, clinical efficacy verification and development are necessary going forward.

Accordingly, this forum will discuss the current status of particle radiation therapy domestically and internationally to effectively utilize and verify the treatment, as well as future strategies for particle radiation therapy.

In Part 1, chaired by Woo Hong-gyun, Vice Director of Seoul National University Cancer Hospital, presentations will be given on ▲The global status of particle radiation therapy (Kim Tae-hyun, Director of the Proton Therapy Center at the National Cancer Center) ▲The status of proton therapy in Korea (Park Hee-chul, Director of the Proton Therapy Center at Samsung Seoul Hospital) ▲The status of carbon ion therapy in Korea (Lee Ik-jae, Director of the Carbon Ion Therapy Center at Yonsei Medical Center) ▲Next-generation particle radiation therapy research group for efficacy verification and optimization (Kim Hak-soo, Team Leader of the Proton Therapy Center at the National Cancer Center). Following this, Part 2 will feature a panel discussion chaired by Jo Kwan-ho, Professor of Radiation Oncology at Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital, with participation from clinical experts and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Seo Hong-kwan, Director of the National Cancer Center, stated, "To establish a foundation for the effective use of particle radiation therapy, clinical evidence-based research comparing and combining it with existing treatments must accompany it," adding, "We hope this forum will serve as a stepping stone to activate research and development (R&D) aimed at improving treatment accuracy of particle radiation therapy and securing core technologies for next-generation particle radiation therapy."

The Cancer Conquest Forum will be broadcast live online via Zoom, and anyone can attend by pre-registering. Participation is free of charge, and inquiries related to the forum can be directed to the Cancer Conquest Promotion Planning Group Secretariat.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.