Call to put radiosurgery in the frontline of battle against cancer

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.

"Radiosurgery was born to fight cancer and with its development over more than a century, it could be more effective than surgery, particularly for early stage tumors," the doctor says.

Over the past 30 years, the incidence of cancer has increased by 80 percent in China, becoming the second leading cause of death, official statistics show.

"In combat-like cancer treatment, radiotherapy is like accurate missiles and should be used as a frontline procedure, particularly for treating early-stage cancer," he says.

Veteran radiation oncologist Yin Weibo, however, says emerging advanced technologies have helped the development of radiotherapy, which has better outcomes than surgery, particularly for treating tumors.

For cases like nasopharyngeal cancer, or for elderly patients for whom surgery is unsuited, radiotherapy is the best choice, says professor Wang Luhua with Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

Reports by Chinese Society for Radiation Oncology suggest that internationally 45 percent of cancer patients can be fully cured, with 18 percent by radiotherapy.

But in China nearly all cancer patients undergo surgery first, Xia says.

He adds few surgeons refer patients for radiotherapy largely due to ignorance and economic reasons.

To correct this, Xia is committed to promoting radiotherapy by organizing academic symposiums and giving lectures to and training fellow oncologists.

In March, Xia was invited by MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the United States, to give a presentation on body gamma knife radiotherapy for tumor treatment.

Gamma knife radiotherapy for body use has not been approved by US authorities but is mainly adopted to treat brain cancer.

New Orleans neurosurgeon Ro-bert Applebaum says gamma knife radiosurgery offers real hope to tumor patients with a completely non-invasive procedure.

In recent years, some foreign patients have traveled to China for the procedure they cannot access in their home countries, says Yang Jian, CEO of the Shanghai Medical Tourism Platform.

Yang's company has helped about 300 foreigners come to Shanghai for the treatment.

In response, the Ministry of Health has called on patients to be cautious about the possible negative effects of gamma knife radiotherapy.

Xia agrees with this assessment and has called for more government supervision to ensure patients benefit from the advanced treatment.

A Beijing-based lung cancer patient, surnamed Wu, says, "It takes time for people to accept new technology and innovative ideas like the notion early-stage tumors can be cured by radiotherapy alone.

"But change is ongoing," the patient adds.