The carbon ion medical treatment system in Wuwei, Gansu

China's first domestically built medical heavy ion accelerator has been officially put into use in Wuwei in Northwest China's Gansu Province, marking China becoming the fourth country to successfully develop heavy ion medical system capabilities and applying it to clinical treatment around the world, the People's Daily reported on Monday. 

The medical heavy ion accelerator was built based on the heavy ion accelerator developed by Institute of Modern Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMP), representing a groundbreaking understanding of Chinese researchers in the heavy ion physics field. 

China's research foundation in nuclear physics was built by the first cyclotron built by IMP in the First Five Year Plan period 1953-1957. From the research proposal of implementing heavy ion into medical treatment in 1993 to the first clinical experiment of China's first medical heavy ion accelerator in March 2020, the achievement is the culmination of 30 years of hard work. . 

The medical heavy ion accelerator, also called carbon ion medical treatment system, can turn carbon ion into a precision-guided weapon that can reach the diseased part and release concentrated energy to kill cancer cells. In addition, carbon ion radiotherapy also causes minimal damage to healthy body tissues, which is now internationally recognized as an advanced radiotherapy treatment.

CAS Ion Medical Technology Co (CASHIM), a company initiated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Holdings (CASH) and the IMP, vowed to minimize the size of medical heavy ion accelerator, reduce related expenditure and cost and combine latest technologies including artificial intelligence and 5G, to serve more patients. 

Global Times