June 24, 2025

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. (head office: Shinagawa City, Tokyo; Representative Director, President and CEO: Shinji Shimomura; hereinafter referred to as “SHI”) has started work installing a superconducting cyclotron to be used in a next-generation proton therapy system (hereinafter referred to as the “System”) for the Taichung Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan. The hospital ordered the System in 2022. This is the first unit of this next-generation proton therapy system, which was developed in 2021. The superconducting cyclotron is a key component of the system.
A commemoration ceremony was held at the hospital, where the hospital director expressed his hope that SHI's cutting-edge technology would improve the quality of medical care at the hospital. In addition, beam adjustment for the System in the first treatment room is scheduled to begin by the end of 2025. It will be delivered to Taichung Veterans General Hospital in 2026, and it will be used for proton therapy starting in 2027.
SHI will continue its efforts to develop technologies and improve the quality of its proton therapy systems, and strives to create a society in which people can live long and healthy lives even if they develop cancer.

[A comment from Yun-Ching Fu, Director of Taichung Veterans General Hospital]
"The newly installed device is one of the world's most advanced proton therapy systems that features state-of-the-art technology. There are many cancer patients in Taiwan who have high hopes due to the installation of this device. We are confident that we will be able to provide more accurate and effective treatment and higher-quality medical care to many patients in the future."

[Next-generation proton therapy system]
A proton beam therapy known as scanning irradiation has come into use during recent years. Scanning irradiation is a treatment method that minimizes damage to normal tissues and organs around the tumor by irradiating the tumor with thin proton beams according to its shape. Treat tumors in the lungs and liver, which move as a patient breathes, it is necessary to use high-precision scanning irradiation and irradiate the tumor for only a short time, while also reducing tumor movement due to breathing. To this end, irradiation with high-intensity proton beams at ultrahigh speed is essential to ensure the short duration of the irradiation. However, in the past, irradiation with proton in this way took a long time.
The superconducting cyclotron developed by SHI more than triples the intensity of proton beams, and in combination with high-speed scanning technology, it enables the irradiation time to be reduced to 6 seconds or less. The use of superconducting magnets has also made it possible to reduce power consumption by approximately 40% compared to conventional systems, enabling the proton therapy system to operate with lower running costs.

*This system is currently not approved as a medical device and is not sold as a medical device.

Please refer here for our past efforts on this matter for more information.
- Published October 26, 2021: "SHI succeeds in developing a superconducting cyclotron for proton therapy"
URL: https://www.shi.co.jp/info/2021/6kgpsq000000lfgo.html
- Published June 22, 2022: "Successful Development of a Next-Generation Proton Therapy System - Enables Irradiation of Mobile Organs in a Shorter Time -"
URL: https://www.shi.co.jp/info/2022/6kgpsq000000lnc8.html
- Published December 1, 2022: "SHI receives first order for next-generation proton therapy system from Taichung Veterans General Hospital"
URL: https://www.shi.co.jp/info/2022/6kgpsq000000ls2f.html