Cancer is an unforgivable disease, one that leaves a lot of casualties along its path. There have been various research made that will combat and bring the disease to its knees. Recently, a team of scientists from Stanford Medicine has stepped up the game to kill cancer by establishing the first hadron therapy center in the country.
Hadron therapy, as opposed to radiation therapy, uses beams of charged particles like protons, carbon, and other ions to kill cancer cells. Where photon beams affect the normal neighboring tissues in radiation therapy, hadron therapy have less adverse side effects. Moreover, it can treat multiple tumor cells which are otherwise resistant to radiotherapy.
What hadron therapy does is deliver the charged particle straight into the tumor cell and burst inside thus effectively killing the cancer cell without damaging the other tissues. Research has also found out that aside from killing the very DNA of the cancer cell, it can also 'teach' the other cells to develop immunity against these tumor cells. Moreover, the beams of the charged particles can be shaped to target tumors of different shapes and sizes.
"Hadron therapy represents a new way forward in cancer care," said David Entwistle, CEO and president of Stanford Health Care.
Indeed, hadron therapy increases cancer cure rates, especially against tumors that are considered incurable. Quynh Le, head of the Stanford Medicine oncology department said that beam therapy will increase the survival rate of cancer patients and decrease the toxicity experienced by patients with large-volume metastatic disease. It will also bring hope to cancer patients who become resistant to radiotherapy.
Stanford Medicine is collaborating with the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System in establishing the first hadron therapy in the United States, which will be located in VA-Palo Alto. Currently, there are only 10 hadron therapy centers around the world and this will be the first one to be established in the nation.
"We believe that Stanford Medicine has the innovative spirit and the expertise to refine, test and validate this technology for the benefit of our patients," said Shridhar Seshdari, vice president for cancer services at Stanford Health Care.
