News
Proton beam treatment used successfully on infant
The Taipei Medical University Hospital's Proton Center says a 10-month-old baby girl with a rare form of brain cancer has become the youngest patient to have a tumour removed using proton beam therapy.
The hospital says the girl underwent the treatment shortly after the Proton Center began receiving patients in August of last year. The hospital says the treatment successfully removed an atypical tumour that filled the central part of the girl's brain.
A children's cancer specialist at the hospital says radiotherapy treatments such as proton beam therapy are not usually recommended for patients under the age of 3 due to the potential impact on a child's physical development.
However, the doctor also says the survival rate for patients who do not receive radiotherapy is extremely low. The disease is prone to affecting children under the age of 2 and the hospital says there are around two cases every two years in Taiwan.
