Hokkaido University and Hitachi, Ltd. (President, Toshiaki Higashihara, Tokyo), an electrical equipment manufacturer, received the Gift of Invention Award, which is the highest award of the 2017 National Invention Award for the invention of a moving body tracking particle beam cancer treatment device.The award ceremony will be held on June 6th at Hotel Okura Tokyo in Minato-ku, Tokyo.
According to Hokkaido University, particle beam cancer treatment is one of the cancer treatment methods using radiation. It accelerates particles such as protons and carbon ions, which are the nuclei of hydrogen, at high speed and concentrates the generated particle beams on the tumor. Treat cancer by irradiating.It is being introduced by medical institutions in Japan and overseas as a state-of-the-art treatment for cancer that can maintain quality of life.
If it is a non-moving part such as a tumor in the head, pinpoint treatment that concentrates on the tumor and irradiates the particle beam is possible, but since tumors in the trunk such as lungs and liver move by breathing etc. There has been a demand for a technique for accurately irradiating a particle beam by capturing the position in real time.
Therefore, Hokkaido University and Hitachi jointly developed and operated a system equipped with Hokkaido University's moving object tracking irradiation technology and Hitachi's spot scanning irradiation technology with the support of the Cabinet Office and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science's cutting-edge research and development support program. We succeeded in achieving both accurate irradiation of the tumor and reduction of the burden on the patient by shortening the irradiation time.Since 2014, Hokkaido University Hospital in Kita-ku, Sapporo has been promoting cancer treatment using this technology.