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Workshop Eyes New Tumor Treatment
A breakthrough by Chinese scientists in treating tumors with high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has led to the First International Workshop on the Application of HIFU in Medicine which was held yesterday in Southwest China's largest city.
In her address to more than 140 international experts attending the meeting, Dr. G. R. ter Haar, just elected chairperson of the new International Society of HIFU in Medicine's Scientific Organizing Committee, said the workshop and the establishment of the society marked a new era in the application of HIFU in medicine. The doctor added that HIFU is poised to offer cancer patients around the world better chances for health and survival.
The society announced at the workshop that it planned to hold the event annually, with the second scheduled to be held in Seattle, United States, next September.
In her speech, Dr G.R. ter Haar emphasized that the workshop presents "a wonderful opportunity'' for people outside China to learn about "the vast amount of fascinating work going on in this exciting country."
The HIFU System for Tumor Therapy was developed by researchers at the Chongqing Medical University. It is a low-cost and painless therapy that has been touted as a solution to the traditional "amputate or die'' dilemma in tumor treatment.
Widely recognized as the most advanced medical technology of its kind in the world, HIFU therapy is one of the fruits of China's National Tackle-Key-Problem Project from the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1996-2000). The new technology won second prize at the 2000 National Awards for Technological Invention in addition to a number of other awards.
It is so far the only large-scale cutting-edge medical technology to which China has complete intellectual property rights.
The scientist in charge of the team that developed the HIFU therapy, Wang Zhibiao of the Chongqing Medical University was named chairman of the on-going international workshop and secretariat of the new society, which will set up headquarters in Chongqing.
After nearly a decade's work, Wang and his colleagues successfully applied HIFU tumor therapy unit in clinical practices in 1997. They saw satisfactory treatment results in nearly 1,000 cases in Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Chongqing.
Scientists in the United States began preliminary clinical trials of their own version of HIFU therapy earlier this year.
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