TMU to open new cancer treatment center in 2020. (Taipei Cancer Center photo)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taipei Cancer Center, funded by the Taipei Medical University (TMU), is expected to finish construction before the end of 2020 and start providing treatment to patients soon after.
The new cancer treatment center will introduce proton therapy, a type of radiation therapy that has proven effective at treating prostate, brain, head, neck, and lung tumors as well as those that cannot be completely removed through surgery. It will be the third facility in Taiwan to offer such treatment, with the first two being the Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and its sister hostpital in Kaohsiung.
The medical complex will have four floors underground and seven above ground. Based on the preliminary plan, floors one to three will serve as outpatient clinics and the fourth as a chemotherapy center. The upper levels (floor five to seven) will be used for research labs as well as conference rooms, reported Liberty Times.
According to its website, the Taipei Cancer Center has also agreed to collaborate on research with medical teams from Johns Hopkins University, the Mayo Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, the City of Hope Medical center, and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center to devise methods of tackling the illness.
Chiou Jeng-Fong (邱仲?), who will head the new center, said the installation of the proton treatment machines will benefit cancer patients tremendously and that each treatment session will only take about 20 minutes. He added that proton treatment is often more effective than other methods because it targets malignant cells without damaging healthy ones, reported UDN.
Chiou pointed out that the new center will provide service to children and patients from abroad. He said that approximately 500 children in Taiwan are diagnosed with cancer every year and that it is important to attend to their mental as well as physical health.