Shanghai Set to Become the World's Largest Proton and Heavy Ion Center

Credit: Ti Gong

Caption: The blueprint of the second phase of Shanghai Proton and Heavy Ion Center.

The Shanghai Proton and Heavy Ion facility has received formal approval for its second-phase development, enabling Shanghai to become the world's largest clinical facility for particle therapy.

The completed facility will include a proton-heavy ion combination device, a dedicated proton treatment system, and a dedicated heavy ion therapy system. The new heavy ion system will have four treatment rooms and the proton system two, allowing the center to meet rising demand from patients from China and abroad.

Construction on the second phase has already begun and will be ready by late 2028.

Since its inception in 2015 as China's first and the world's third center of its kind, the facility has used advanced proton and heavy ion beams to target cancerous tissues while causing minimal damage to healthy cells and adjacent organs.

Through technical innovation and operational enhancements, the facility raised its yearly patient throughput from 200 to 1,267 last year, reflecting a 16 percent average annual growth rate. To date, almost 8,900 patients have been treated and released.

The facility presently treats over 50 disorders, including all common malignancies, with an emphasis on brain, lung, liver, prostate, nasopharyngeal, pancreatic, and breast tumors.

Treatments are covered by both commercial health insurance and Shanghai's Huhuibao, a government-run supplemental medical insurance program.