OREANDA-NEWS. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that it has completed the construction of a new proton therapy system for cancer treatment at its Energy Systems Center in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. The company has started testing of the new technology including a high dose-rate beam delivery system which reduces the irradiation time to one fourth of the current level.

Mitsubishi Electric plans to perform the quality verification testing of this new system in collaboration with clinical institutions, and also utilize the preferred status granted as a member of the Kansai Innovation Comprehensive Global Strategic Special Zone in order to obtain early approval as a medical device.

Mitsubishi Electric has 50 years of experience and expertise in the fields of radiation therapy and accelerator systems, which the company combined to develop the particle therapy system. In 2002, Mitsubishi Electric obtained approval from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan to manufacture and sell the proton therapy systems. In 2005, the company became the first manufacturer in the world to obtain approval for the carbon/proton-type therapy systems. In March 2010, approval was obtained for the "Compact Carbon-Type Particle Therapy System," which was developed on the basis of the research work led by the National Institute of Radiological Sciences. To date, the above three types of systems have been installed at a total of eight facilities in Japan.