Carbon ion therapy

Pardon if this has already been posted, The Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville Fl plans to build the first Carbon ion therapy center in North America;
https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20191119/mayo-clinic-in-jacksonville-plans-north-americarsquos-first-carbon-ion-therapy-center-to-fight-cancer

Post Edited (RCS) : 1/25/2020 12:16:43 PM (GMT-7)

[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=2ahUKEwj58Zypxp_nAhVBZM0KHeeMChcQFjABegQIAxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heidelberg-university-hospital.com%2Fdiseases-treatments%2Fcancer-and-tumor-diseases%2Fproton-therapy-and-carbon-ion-therapy%2F&usg=AOvVaw29qDP1EQjU1iHOr3633iS0
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&ved=2ahUKEwj58Zypxp_nAhVBZM0KHeeMChcQFjALegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wired.com%2Fstory%2Fwhy-a-promising-potent-cancer-therapy-isnt-used-in-the-us%2F&usg=AOvVaw3jctjbGqzwbQKhwfWVPSwx

A couple of interesting articles. Hopefully someone can make the links work.

While this was developed in the US at Berkeley it was overshadowed by Proton Beam radiotherapy and went fallow for years until being revived by clinics in Europe and Japan. It still hasn’t been proven to be any better than either proton or photon as there have not been sufficient random studies. It’s supposed superiority is still threoretical, but now Mayo is going to make it available in the US. I didn’t yet find any references to its use with PCa (Apart from a mention in one of the links from Djin), but I haven’t yet digested these articles.

Always good to see more investigation, choice and hopefully, improvement.

Just read a few more articles. The top center appears to be the Heidelberg University Medical Center in Germany. They use both Proton and Carbon Ion radiotherapy. Another article from several years ago stated the cost of a center is 50% greater than a Proton Center. The most recent Proton Center to open is here in Atlanta at Emory. A couple of years ago before it’s completion they were up to over $400 million and counting for the center. So the cost of Carbon Ion Centers will certainly limit their deployment.