I believe that everyone still remembers the magnificent reversal of the women's soccer team's victory in the 2022 Asian Cup on February 6, 2022, with their hearts pounding. People's Daily commented that the excellent women's soccer girls deserve all the praise.
However, recently, another news that touches the hearts of people on the major media:
"I'm sorry to appear in such a form in your circle of friends ...... I'm a women's soccer player ...... "This is the Shanghai Qisheng Donghua women's football team captain Xiong Xin because of a tumor to the community to request donations. Just a month ago, Xiong Xin was still struggling to enter the women's national soccer team's dream.
Xiong Xin was reportedly selected for the Chinese college women's national soccer team in 2019 and has won honors on behalf of her country. In January of this year, she was diagnosed with malignant melanoma of the choroid in the fundus of the eye, which requires heavy ion proton radiotherapy to control the development of the tumor, while the treatment costs 300,000 to 400,000 yuan. This is an astronomical figure for her parents, who are both laid off.
On February 11, 2022, just a few hours after the help link was sent out, more than 10,000 people donated **** counting more than 500,000 yuan.1
Seeing everyone's outpouring of help and sincere concern, Xiong Xin was very touched, and she is now full of confidence, hoping to return to the field after the disease is healed and play for her country.
Choroidal melanoma is actually when the melanoma occurs in the choroid, called "choroidal melanoma", although it is one of the most common primary intraocular malignant tumors in adults, but the overall incidence is low, belonging to a rare cancer.
The early symptoms of this type of cancer are similar to those described by Xiong Xin, who felt black shadows in front of his eyes, loss of vision, and distorted vision. Earlier this year, Xiong Xin in the process of training always feel blurred vision, and can not even see the air flying soccer. Like all malignant tumors, choroidal melanoma can spread to other parts of the body.2
Choroidal melanoma
Depending on the size of the choroidal melanoma, the treatment options are different, but are mainly based on surgery and radiotherapy.
For example, patients with large choroidal melanomas may undergo a low-energy radiation therapy regimen that preserves the eye, an unavoidable side effect of which can lead to vision loss. Very large choroidal melanomas (greater than 22 millimeters in diameter), on the other hand, are treated by removing the eye (enucleation). This is because the amount of radiation needed to destroy a choroidal melanoma that fills most of the eye may be too much for the eye to handle.
And the treatment option doctors gave Xiong Xin was proton therapy. This is one of the most advanced radiotherapy equipment available worldwide, and simply put, the most prominent advantage is that it kills tumors with precision, has few side effects, and minimizes damage to normal tissues. This is also a ray of hope that Xiong Xin can return to the field.
Through the help of everyone, Xiong Xin is already doing the examination and preparation for proton therapy, and will soon begin to receive treatment. According to her own introduction, she will have 5 times proton radiotherapy, is expected to complete the whole process of radiotherapy within 10 days. After successful radiotherapy, checkups and follow-ups will be conducted every 4 months.
We hope that she can successfully complete her treatment and return to the field she loves as soon as possible, and have the opportunity to compete for her country.
I believe that when we see this, we are more curious about Xiong Xin's preparations for the heavy money to receive proton therapy is not enough to understand. Proton is radiotherapy is relatively heavy positively charged particles, they stop when they hit the target. X-ray beams, on the other hand, consist of photons, which are particles with almost no mass, so they travel all the way through the body, including healthy tissue. The medical department of Global Oncologist Network has written a detailed article about proton therapy for your reference: An Overview | Top 10 Questions About Proton Therapy for Oncology Patients
The energy released by protons is much greater than that of X-rays used in normal radiotherapy, which have an energy of 4-18 MeV, while protons have an energy of 70-230 MeV.
Related Readings: Proton Therapy: A Guide to Proton Therapy
The energy released by protons is much greater than that of the X-rays used in normal radiotherapy. p> Related reading: Proton therapy vs traditional radiotherapy, how should tumor patients choose?
For patients with eye cancer, proton therapy can achieve the same therapeutic effect while avoiding eye removal surgery. Proton therapy program for eye tumors, it is very clear to see that proton therapy is very clean around the lesion, there is no excess ray residue, while the traditional radiotherapy has a large range of waves, for the eyes, this important organ, the treatment of the eyes, especially to pay attention to and to do their best to protect, proton therapy has an absolute advantage. There is a significant difference in the 10-year incidence of radiotherapy-associated or in situ-emerging second malignant tumors (proton vs photon: 0% vs 14% )
Higher irradiation dose
Proton therapy is better suited for tumors that require a higher radiation dose. Because proton beams carry more energy and lose less energy during irradiation, proton therapy is able to deliver a higher radiation dose to the target lesion than standard radiation therapy.
Because of this, proton therapy can provide better outcomes for patients with non-surgically resectable sarcomas, eye tumors, and paraspinal tumors.
Fewer side effects
Proton therapy effectively reduces the amount of radiation damage to normal tissues, and therefore has the effect of reducing the adverse effects of radiation therapy, which is better for prostate cancer and tumors affecting the prostate, spine, head, and neck.
Radiation may cause mucous membrane damage and ulcers when irradiating the oral cavity, esophagus, gastrointestinal tract, and other mucous membranes, and long-term damage when irradiating the heart, lungs, and other vital organs; radiation to the head may result in adverse effects, including nerve damage, hearing damage, and other damage to the liver; radiation to the liver may result in liver damage, such as radioactive hepatitis; for pediatric patients, the risk of developmental delays is much lower. For pediatric patients, the risk of developmental delays is much lower with proton therapy.
Compared to standard radiation therapy, proton therapy is more "precise", and its rapid decay after the maximum dose is released minimizes damage to normal tissue behind the lesion.
The treatment process is less painful and less disruptive to the patient's normal life
The treatment process usually takes one week to one month from diagnosis to completion. During this time, the patient is able to live a normal life. After treatment, recovery is relatively quick.
Proton therapy causes less pain and burning than photon radiotherapy, and patients do not need to be hospitalized for long periods of time, making the treatment experience better.
The last thing we need to talk about is the price of proton therapy, which is one of the most important concerns of cancer patients, and which varies from country to country and from hospital to hospital around the world. Xiong Xin in the country to receive proton therapy cost about 280,000, of course, this does not include other treatment costs. Other countries vary. Patients can consult the medical department of the Global Oncologist Network for a comprehensive understanding before choosing.
In the U.S., the per-treatment fee, the general treatment completion requires 120,000-150,000 U.S. dollars, which is about 900,000 yuan, and Germany requires 50,000-60,000 euros, which is about 400,000 yuan.
Here to tell you secretly, Japan's proton therapy costs even cheaper than the domestic , the domestic proton therapy is 300,000 yuan , and Japan is only 260,000 , coupled with the airfare and lodging and domestic prices are about the same. In comparison, Japan is the best choice for tumor patients to receive proton therapy, both in terms of medical level and medical environment as well as medical services. Renting a bed-and-breakfast near the hospital and seeing the Japanese scenery with your family during treatment will definitely help your recovery.
Currently, there are more and more drugs and technologies for cancer treatment, and proton therapy does open a door of hope for cancer patients, but proton therapy is not a panacea and can only target some cancers. However, proton therapy is not a panacea for all cancers, it can only target some cancers, and each treatment center has its own cancer focus, and the related professional facilities are also different, so it is prudent to choose a hospital that suits your needs, and ask for advice from professional doctors and institutions, and do not listen to rumors, which will result in more losses than gains!