Dr. Masao Murakami

Director
Southern TOHOKU Proton Therapy Center

Proton Therapy is a radiation therapy that takes advantage of a physical property of proton beams known as the Bragg peak to concentrate and deliver higher radiation doses to tumors that arise in deep organs, such as the liver, pancreas, lungs, prostate, and bladder. Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) is effective for tumors greater than 10 cm in diameter and recurrent tumors after conventional radiotherapy.

For the tumor adjacent to the gastrointestinal tract, a surgical spacer is placed by surgery between the tumor and the gastrointestinal tract to protect healthy structures. PBT is subsequently performed safely. Additionally, PBT is concurrently combined with intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy for locally advanced cancers of the head and neck and bladder.

With an aim to make PBT the standard modality of cancer treatment in the near future, we engage in clinical and research activities with STHG’s motto “all for patients”. Moreover, we uphold the philosophy of the best cancer treatment for treating cancer without scalpels and for inoperable cancers without surgical approaches to accomplish the vision of a glimmer of hope for cancer patients from Koriyama to the world.