Hong Kong hospital opens city’s first proton therapy centre offering more targeted treatment for cancer
- Treatment allows doctors to increase radiation to tumours with minimal effect on healthy tissue
- Costlier than traditional X-ray treatment, proton therapy is available at HK$293,100 to HK$613,400
A private hospital has opened Hong Kong’s first proton therapy centre, offering cancer patients an alternative treatment promising higher precision and fewer side effects.
The Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital (HKSH) said a woman with breast cancer was the first patient at its new centre in Shau Kei Wan last week.
Professor William Wong Wai-ling, guest consultant for the treatment, said proton beams minimised the dose of radiation to healthy tissues unaffected by cancer better than X-ray treatment – the most common type of radiation therapy.
“Proton beams penetrate the body to a certain depth. How far they go depends on their energy and then they stop,” he told the press last Tuesday.
“X-rays don’t stop. They go through and through, so X-rays will deliver a lot more radiation to the normal tissue.”
He said proton therapy allowed doctors to increase the dose of radiation to a tumour while minimising the effects on surrounding healthy tissue.
The new treatment costs more than traditional radiation therapy. The hospital’s proton therapy packages of 15 to 30 sessions, including for brain, breast and cervical cancer, are available at charges ranging from HK$293,100 to HK$613,400 (US$78,460).
