Medical Equipment and Systems

In January 2014, the Nagoya Proton Th erapy Center became the fi rst clinic in Japan to treat patients using proton spot scanning. Th e new system operates alongside two existing treatment rooms that started treating patients in February 2013 and use a passive scattering system. Th is means that the Nagoya Proton Th erapy Center now has three treatment rooms, two with rotating gantries and one with a fi xed-nozzle system. Th e center is part of Nagoya City’s “Quality Life 21 Johoku” program that fosters the healthcare and welfare of its people. Th e newly installed spot scanning system is Hitachi’s latest proton therapy system. Compared to conventional passive scattering, spot scanning can target the proton beam more accurately on complex tumor shapes, reducing adverse eff ects on surrounding healthy tissue while still delivering a high dose to the tumor. Two other features of spot scanning are that it eliminates the need for patient-specifi c beam shaping collimators and compensators (which eventually become radioactive waste), and that its high proton usage factor minimizes the generation of harmful secondary radiation.