Introduction to Fees

Cost Transparency and Rationality

Wuwei Heavy Ion Center: implements a nationally unified pricing scheme. The initial treatment cost is 49,500 yuan, with each subsequent session costing 16,500 yuan. The cost for a single treatment course is capped at 198,000 yuan. For the second and additional treatment sites, only the initial treatment fee is charged per site.    

Lanzhou Heavy Ion Center: the initial treatment cost is 49,500 yuan, and each session from the second onward costs 16,500 yuan. The maximum cost per treatment course does not exceed 150,000 yuan. For the second and additional treatment sites, only the initial treatment fee is charged per site.    

Patients enrolled in the heavy ion special insurance programs offered by major national insurance companies can claim reimbursement at both the Wuwei and Lanzhou Heavy Ion Centers.

*Note: The international service offers comprehensive support for international patients, allowing you to customize your selection according to your needs. This service includes, professional medical consultation and remote consultations, personalized itinerary, arrangements, medical translation accompaniment, and legal advisory services, ensuring, a smooth and worry-free international medical treatment experience.

The Value and Advantages of Heavy Ion Therapy

① Advanced Technology: Precision & Efficiency Beyond Conventional Radiotherapy

   Heavy ion therapy, centered on carbon ion beams, has emerged as a cutting-edge technology in cancer radiotherapy due to its unique physical and biological advantages.

• Physical Precision: Heavy ion beams exhibit the distinctive "Bragg Peak" effect, delivering maximum energy precisely at the tumor depth while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues. This makes it particularly effective for treating deep-seated tumors near critical organs.
• Biological Superiority: Heavy ions have a Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) 2-3 times higher than conventional photon radiotherapy, enabling more efficient tumor cell destruction. They are especially effective against radiation-resistant tumors (e.g., osteosarcoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma) and hypoxic tumors.
• Technological Integration: Combined with real-time imaging guidance and respiratory gating, treatment errors can be controlled at millimeter-level precision, achieving "stereotactic ablation" like accuracy. This significantly reduces side effects and improves patients' quality of life.

② Scarcity: Exclusive Resources, Elevating Premium Care

   Heavy ion therapy remains globally scarce due to technical barriers and resource constraints, underscoring its exclusivity.

· Equipment and Cost Barriers: Heavy ion facilities require complex systems (e.g., accelerators, beamlines), with single-unit construction costs exceeding 2 billion yuan. Operation demands top-tier physics and medical teams, with only over a dozen centers worldwide in clinical use.

· Geographical Imbalance: Treatment centers are concentrated in China (Gansu, Shanghai), Japan, and Germany, forcing many patients to seek cross-border care.

· Clinical Thresholds: Strict patient selection criteria cement its status as a "scarce resource" in precision oncology, enhancing its irreplaceability.

Long-Term Value of Heavy Ion Therapy

• Reduced Recurrence and Secondary Treatment Costs

   Heavy ions directly destroy tumor DNA (2-3x more effective biologically than conventional radiotherapy), improving local control rates for refractory cancers (e.g., pancreatic cancer, glioblastoma). For example, Wuwei Heavy Ion Center reports >80% single-course control rates for recurrent cases, reducing the need for repeat surgeries or intensive chemotherapy.

• Lower Complication-Related Costs

   Traditional radiotherapy can easily damage surrounding healthy tissues (for example, radiotherapy for head and neck tumors may lead to dysphagia). However, due to the "Bragg peak" characteristic, the energy of heavy ion beams is concentrated in the tumor target area, reducing the incidence of complications by more than 50% and decreasing the cost of subsequent rehabilitation treatments.

• Broad Applicability to Complex Cases

   Effective for 40+ cancer types, especially for high-risk surgical candidates (e.g., elderly patients, poor cardiopulmonary function) or sensitive tumor locations (e.g., skull base, spinal cord). Wuwei Heavy Ion Center has successfully treated breast and bladder cancers, avoiding costs from surgical failures or repeated radiotherapy.

• Short Treatment Cycles, High Comprehensive Benefits

   Requires only 1-3 sessions for some cases (vs. dozens in traditional radiotherapy). Japanese data show >90% 5-year survival for early-stage lung cancer (matching surgery) with 50% shorter recovery time, reducing societal healthcare burdens.

• Technological Development and Cost Decline Trend

   Domestic heavy ion systems now cost 1/3 of imported equipment, with treatment fees dropping 30%. Future miniaturized systems (40% smaller) may further reduce costs to 100,000–150,000 yuan, narrowing the gap with conventional therapies. While initial costs remain higher, heavy ion therapy’s precision, low recurrence rates, and shorter cycles lower long-term expenses. For example, hepatocellular carcinoma patients save ~20% in 5-year costs despite a 150,000 yuan upfront premium. With domestic technology and policy support, heavy ion therapy is transitioning from a "premium option" to a cost-effective solution, particularly for complex tumors.

Multidisciplinary Expert Team and Full-Cycle Care

• Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

   Requires radiologists, medical physicists, dosimetrists, engineers, and nurses. Medical physicists need dual expertise in particle physics and clinical medicine (lengthy training).

• Personalized Treatment Planning

   Each patient requires pre-treatment preparation: precise tumor localization via PET-CT/MRI, followed by medical physicists using Monte Carlo algorithms to simulate tens of thousands of particle trajectories to optimize dose distribution.

• Real-Time Dynamic Monitoring

   Before each irradiation, image-guided verification of positional errors (millimeter-level precision) is required. During treatment, real-time monitoring of beam intensity and biological effects is conducted. Post-treatment, dose reconstruction and treatment efficacy evaluation are performed. The entire process necessitates coordination among multiple professionals.

Technological Development and Quality Control Costs

• Amortization of long-term scientific research investment

   The transformation of heavy ion technology from the laboratory to clinical application takes decades. Only a few countries in the world have mastered the core technology. Patent licensing and the apportionment of continuous R & D costs are included in the treatment cost.

• Strict Quality Control

   Daily beam stability checks, dose calibration, and system validation consume >30% of operational time, ensuring <2% treatment error.

Personalization and Patient Care

① Personalized Plans: Treatment costs will be precisely assessed based on the patient's tumor type, disease complexity, and customized treatment plan. We recommend contacting our consultation center via [Online Consultation] or calling the hotline 400-6096666 to obtain exclusive cost details and treatment planning, ensuring transparent information and clear planning.

② Cost Support: Non-heavy ion treatment expenses may be reimbursed by medical insurance. For specific details, please [Online Consultation] or call the hotline 400-6096666.