Mumbai, 26 September 2024

 

Tata Memorial Centre’s National Hadron Beam Therapy Facility at Advanced Centre for Treatment Research & Education in Cancer (ACTREC) in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 11^th May 2023. This is a state of the art facility with three patient treatment rooms having 360 degree rotation gantries in-corporated with the latest Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS) technology capable of delivering Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT) using a cyclotron producing protons with energies ranging from 60 - 230 MeV. After 1 year of service since 15th August 2023, 119 patients received treatment at the TMC proton therapy facility at ACTREC.

Sixty-two percent of the patients were in the general category and thirty eight percent were private. Twenty eight patients (24% of total) were treated completely free of cost or supported by the funds raised by the hospital through the hospital “Patient Welfare Funds” or through “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)”. There were 22 patients (18%) who were in the pediatric age group. Treatment for very young children requiring anesthesia will start soon Majority of the patients treated included Bone tumors (32%) and CNS tumors (29%) followed by Head & Neck tumors (14%), pediatric solid tumors, Gynecological, Breast, Prostate and Gastrointestinal tumors. All patients treated at the centre till now have been thoroughly scrutinized by specialist treatment groups to ensure maximum advantage with proton therapy and completed their treatment with minimal side effects.

Global statistics indicate that approx. 15-20% of patients receiving radiation therapy could potentially benefit from treatment using proton beams. In India approx. 60,000 children are diagnosed with cancer every year. Approx. 4000 of them would potentially benefit with proton beams. Similarly a much larger number of patients in the adult age group would also benefit from proton beam therapy. The facility at TMC, Mumbai, would benefit patients in both paying & non-paying categories (40:60 in TMC). Currently the approx. cost of one course of proton beam therapy treatment in the US is approx. 150 - 250,000 USD (1-1.5 Crore INR). Availability of the therapy facility in TMC has made this state of the art treatment accessible to a large number of deserving patients from within the country and also cater to patients from neigh- boring countries.

All treatment rooms at ACTREC are equipped with Robotic Treatment Couches enabling maximal flexibility in treatment delivery with high precision. The treatment rooms also have facilities for delivery of anaesthesia during treatment for very young children. In keeping with the current efforts of the government to encourage indigenous development of technology, 20% of the equipment installed at TMC has been manufactured in India.

TMC is the first comprehensive cancer care centre in the public sector in India and the region to provide this advanced treatment technology for service, research & education. Towards this endeavor after a global bid, TMC signed up with IBA (Ion Beam Applications) Belgium who are currently leaders in high quality proton therapy equipment worldwide. IBA not only holds the distinction of sharing more than 50% of the global market-share of proton therapy equipment but also leads in terms of innovation & technology development.

Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai, a Grant in aid Institution of the Dept. of Atomic Energy (DAE), Govt. of India, has been involved in the delivery of high-quality comprehensive cancer care & has also been at the forefront of acquiring advanced technologies, cancer research & education. Approximately 75 thousand new cancer patients get registered in TMC every year.

With the expanding use of particle therapy for treatment of cancers globally, there is a definite need to conduct focused research to critically review the impact of this technology on the outcomes of cancer therapy. With the large numbers of patients that we expect to treat in the proton therapy facility at TMC, we have planned relevant research directed at generating robust, high quality scientific evidence to better define the use of particle therapy for various indications both in adults & children. Towards this TMC will initiate in-house research projects and also collab- orate with global researchers.

Clinicians, scientists, physicists and technologists from Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and other DAE institutions will have an opportunity to work in tandem with industry partners involved in the develop- ment & functioning of Hadron facilities & undertake research activities related to development of more efficient & cost effective solutions in the future.

The Tata Memorial Centre, National Hadron Beam Therapy Facility besides delivering state of the art radiation therapy & conducting particle therapy related research, will also focus on training, human resource development & capacity building in particle therapy.

For further information, please contact:

Prof. Siddhartha Laskar

Dy Director Academics & Proton Therapy TMC

Ph: 022 24177167 (Office)

Mob: +91 9920460890

Email: laskarss@tmc.gov.in

 

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(Source: TMC) | PIB Mumbai | SC/ DR

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