In 1981, when I founded the first hospital of our group, cancer was the leading cause for death in Japanese, surpassing stroke. Today, almost 30 years later, cancer is now called a national disease. Each year more than 600,000 persons suffer from cancer, 300,000 persons die, and 3,000,000 persons are living with and fighting cancer.

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The Japanese government legislated a “Cancer Control Act” and is taking various actions. What reduces the mortality rate of cancer is none other than a focus on “early detection and early treatment.” Moreover, as Japan now has the largest population of the elderly in the world, our population demands detection and treatment methods that have as little stress as possible on the body, and minimal concern for side effects.

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Particle (ion) beam therapy is a method to treat cancer “without incision,” “on an outpatient basis,” “with minimal side effects,” and “without interrupting daily routines.” Our institute has decided to operate the first medical facility in Japan under private management to introduce a proton therapy system, which is one type of particle beam therapy.

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On October 1, 2008, in response to the wishes of our cancer patients, Southern TOHOKU Proton Therapy Center finally opened its doors in Koriyama city of Fukushima prefecture.

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Until only recently, it was difficult, even with significant advancements in the medical sciences, to fulfill the wish of patients who want “to live an ordinary life as much as possible during cancer treatment.”Proton therapy brings on new age to cancer treatment.

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We will unveil a new era in cancer therapy by the introduction of this treatment methodology, and help as many patients as possible to live a fuller life.

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Southern TOHOKU research Institute for Neuroscience
President, Kazuo Watanabe

Proton therapy is a new type of radiotherapy that reduces cancer cells by accelerating protons, which is a hydrogen nucleus, to near velocity of light and beaming this against cancer cells. The main difference between proton therapy and traditional radiotherapy is distribution of radiation in the body.

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In traditional radiotherapy, radiation dosage reaches the maximum at near the body surface, then it decreases gradually, whereas a characteristic of proton beam is that it drops a large dosage of radiation just before the proton beam is stopped, and this allows more radiation to be blasted on the tumor, and enables both more effectiveness and reduction of problems in the normal tissues. Furthermore, a higher effectiveness on cancer cells is expected, as the mechanism of action is different from traditional radiotherapy.

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Let us describe the ABC’s of the mission of Southern TOHOKU Proton Therapy Center.

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A stands for “Academic”; it describes how what is learned from our patients is given back to further the science of cancer therapy and foster cancer therapy for the next generation. B stands for “Break through”; it means breaking new grounds, and describes a purpose to make significant improvements to mired therapy results, particularly results for advanced cancer. C stands for “Comfort”; we wish to provide proton therapy to our patients in the most comfortable environment.

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We strive to establish a future standard in treatment, and wish to contribute to the eradication of cancer, and we do so by administering proton therapy that is gentle to normal tissue and attacks cancer in not only the early stages but also in advanced stages. Furthermore, we believe that our mission is to help our patients undergoing proton therapy to lead a better life.

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Southern TOHOKU Research Institute for Neuroscience
Southern TOHOKU Proton Therapy Center
Director, Nobukazu Fuwa