Call to put radiosurgery in the frontline of cancer battle

Hundreds of cancer patients needing radiotherapy are among the international medical tourists who come to China - even though it is not part of mainstream cancer treatment here.

Xia Tingyi, doctor and vice-president of the Chinese Society for Radiation Oncology, makes this claim and is calling for better recognition of radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer.

Just 20 percent of cancer patients in China receive radiotherapy, while in the United States the proportion is at least 70 percent, says Xia, who heads the department of radiation oncology at Air Force General Hospital in Beijing.