After official approval and market access was granted in 2019, China's first self-developed carbon ion therapy facility has served more than 500 cancer patients as of the end of March 2022.

　　Co -developed by the Institute of Modern Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and a subsidiary company, the facility is composed of an accelerator system and a treatment system，and is installed in Wuwei Cancer Hospital in northwest China's Gansu province. It is the country's first medical heavy ion accelerator with independent intellectual property rights.

　　Carbon ion is a type of heavy ion which can deposit more energy in tumor tissues. Xiao Guoqing, director of Lanzhou Branch of CAS, said the speed of carbon ion beams delivered by this facility is approaching 70 percent of light speed. By adjusting the dose and range, the carbon ion can precisely concentrate on tumor with minimal harm to healthy tissues.

　　Unlike traditional method of radiation, carbon ions have greater relative biological effectiveness, making treatment period shorter and producing a high cure rate.

　　In addition, the treatment cost of carbon ion therapy in China is quite budget-friendly (about 200,000 RMB), less than one-third of that in the U.S. "We are actively recommending domestic heavy ion therapy for some tumor treatment to be included in medical insurance," said Xiao.

　　Xiao also said that the Lanzhou carbon ion therapy system is about to be put into use. Equipped with an advanced robotic arm in its treatment room and the in situ orthogonal DR images technology, the treatment efficiency would be further improved.

　　Besides Wuwei and Lanzhou, other Chinese cities like Putian, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing and Changchun have also begun the successful construction of medical heavy ion accelerators this year.