NTHU: Taiwan successfully treats Japanese afflicted with malignant brain tumour

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 -- Japan has donated five batches of the AZ COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan, and Taiwan has reciprocated by providing treatment at NTHU’s Boron Neutron Capture Therapy Center (BNCTC) for a 20-year-old Japanese woman suffering from malignant brain tumour.

According to a statement, the treatment was a success, and she has now returned to school.

The doctor in charge of the treatment was Yi-Wei Chen of the Oncology Department at Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH). He said that only Taiwan and Japan have medical centres using boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) to treat cancer.

However, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare has not yet approved BNCT for treating malignant brain tumours, leaving Taiwan as the only source of treatment for malignant brain tumours that are difficult to treat by surgery.

Chen said that the Japanese patient was originally diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma of the right ear canal at age six. After surgery and chemotherapy, the condition was stable for a time.

Unexpectedly, the tumour recurred in 2018, and the tumour metastasised to the hindbrain. After it was determined that it turned out to be malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour, she received heavy particle and CyberKnife treatment in Japan, but the tumour still recurred.

She went to the THOR BNCT Cancer Center for treatment on Sept 17. After the injection of the Boron-10 drug and a 20-minute session of neutron source irradiation, she had a group photo in front of the NSTDC with the medical team, who presented her with a teddy bear wearing a graduation cap, as a way of wishing her a speedy ‘graduation’ from her cancer. 

Working closely with the TVGH, the BNCTC has treated over 100 patients from all over the world, including Spain, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and China.

BNCT is a kind of targeted radiotherapy in which the patient is first injected with a boron-containing drug; once the drug has accumulated in the tumour, the neutron beam from the nuclear reactor is used to irradiate the tumour, and the high-energy particles generated by the boron neutron capture reaction effectively kill off the tumour cells, without damaging nearby normal cells.

-- BERNAMA