Shanghai proton and heavy ion hospital reports 2024 activity and follow-up data

Shanghai Proton and Heavy Ion Center reported 7,606 treated and discharged patients from opening through the end of 2024. Its January 11, 2025 municipal account describes clinical capacity, overseas use and follow-up findings for lung and pancreatic cancers.

Annual activity and overseas patients

The hospital treated 1,211 patients in 2024, an eleven percent increase over 2023 and its fourth consecutive year above one thousand.

Since opening, more than 76 percent of patients had received heavy ion treatment alone or combined with protons. Ninety patients came from more than ten overseas countries and regions; that is a cumulative figure, separate from the 2024 treatment total.

The hospital listed more than fifty accepted disease categories and 66 clinical operating procedures in its thirteenth version.

Technology changed treatment and waiting times

The report attributed an average thirty percent reduction in treatment time to a ridge-filter technology, increasing capacity by 5.5 percent.

An upgraded rotating treatment cabin accommodated special irradiation angles. For several dozen patients during 2024, this shortened the wait for admission by nearly half. The hospital also coordinated clinical beam availability across seventeen hours per working day with patient treatment schedules.

Lung cancer findings from follow-up

The hospital had treated 961 lung cancer cases, 85 percent with heavy ions. It reported five-year survival of 82.7 percent for stage I non-small cell lung cancer and 52.4 percent for stage III disease. The reported rate of grade 3 or higher adverse reactions in the lung cancer data was three percent.

Pancreatic cancer and continued tracking

All 343 pancreatic cancer cases received heavy ions, with stage III or IV disease accounting for eighty percent. Reported two-year survival was 64.1 percent and two-year local tumour control 84.6 percent; late grade 3 toxicity was reported at 0.7 percent.

The hospital described regular follow-up of discharged patients and matching with cancer-registry data held by disease-control authorities. Findings for its main tumour groups were released in May 2024 and updated periodically. The figures in this report describe those treated cohorts and their follow-up.