Centron Medical Boosts Proton Therapy into the Superconducting Era
China's first 230 MeV proton therapy cyclotron superconducting magnet was successfully commissioned on Dec. 16, 2016, at Shanghai Centron Medical Technology Co. The superconducting magnet was jointly developed by Shanghai Centron Medical Technology Co. and China Atomic Energy Research Institute. After two years of efforts, the Magnet Division of Centron Medical has successfully applied the advanced technology process of magnetic resonance superconducting magnets to the development process of cyclotron superconducting magnets.
And for the characteristics of the cyclotron magnet, a lot of theoretical analysis, simulation and process demonstration, and finally established a set of stable and efficient technology development route of this magnet. The superconducting magnets are excited to the field once and have an overshoot current of 10%, which fully demonstrates the high stability and reliability of the magnets.
Dr. Hongming Tang, Director of the Magnet Division, said, "The superiority of proton and heavy ion therapy over traditional radiation therapy is unanimously recognized in the international medical community. In recent years, the development of proton and heavy ion tumor treatment centers has been rapid, and imported equipment manufacturers such as IBA, Varian, ProNova, Mevion, Hitachi and other companies have signed cooperation agreements with many domestic group companies to build tumor treatment centers. However, the imported equipment is extremely expensive and the post-maintenance cost is huge, and the treatment cost transferred to the patients is quite high. The successful development of superconducting magnet of superconducting cyclotron will boost the domestic proton therapy equipment into the superconducting era, which is a solid step for the localization of the world's most high-end and expensive medical equipment, and will play a positive and important role in benefiting the majority of tumor patients and reducing their treatment costs. Meanwhile, superconductivity technology applied to cyclotron makes proton therapy equipment miniaturized and lightweight, which is very suitable for commercial promotion."
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In addition to the cooperation with the China Institute of Sub-Energy, Shanghai Centron Magnet Division also actively participates in the national big science projects and has established good cooperation with the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics. We make our due contribution to the localization of large medical equipment such as magnetic resonance and proton therapy in China, and to the progress and innovation of large instruments and equipment such as gas pedals and synchrotron radiation light sources in China.