Other Diseases

Carbon ion radiotherapy for other diseases

Indications

Carbon ion radiotherapy is still at the investigational stage. There are other diseases and pathologies for which carbon ion radiotherapy would be beneficial to patients, in addition to those for which research results have already been evaluated and insurance coverage is provided and those for which the treatment was approved as clinical trial, in which inclusion and exclusion criteria are rigorously applied. Besides the diseases for which clinical studies are currently being conducted, there are also cases in which treatment is performed in view of the possibility of expanding the indications of carbon ion radiotherapy in the future.
However, carbon ion radiotherapy is not tried unconditionally with any disease or pathology. The following 3 points are important conditions for the application of carbon ion radiotherapy.

• Other treatments either cannot be applied or are unlikely to produce favorable results.
• The local therapeutic effect of carbon ion radiotherapy would be a major benefit to the patient.
• Theoretically, or based on experience, carbon ion radiotherapy would potentially provide better efficacy than other treatments.

Below are examples of types of diseases that meet these 3 criteria and are not currently being examined in clinical studies.

• Stage T1-T2N0M0 (early-stage) cancer of various parts of the body in patients for whom surgery is not indicated for a systemic reason or who refuse to undergo surgery
• Localized, advanced cancers of various parts of the body
• Localized metastatic or recurrent cancer

However, the treatment may not be indicated in the following patients.

• Patients with cancer in addition to the target lesion(s)
• Patients who lack a definitive diagnosis
• Patients whose general condition is remarkably poor

The uses of carbon ion radiotherapy are ultimately determined by the cancer board after a careful examination of each patient. Please understand that there may be cases in which a patient will not be able to undergo carbon ion radiotherapy despite a strong desire to do so.