Over 300 cancer patients have received proton beam therapy

Treatment targets tumours more precisely, minimising damage to other tissues, organs

- Salma Khalik

Ms Leong Pei Ying, 41, is grateful that proton beam therapy (PBT) is now available in Singapore, and is covered by her Integrated Shield Plan (IP).

The hospital clinical administrator has had her skull opened five times since she was diagnosed with a brain tumour in her frontal lobe 11 years ago, when she was 30 years old.

The operations in 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2024 were to cut out as much of the cancer tumour as possible. But each time after surgery, the tumour grew again.

She is hoping that having undergone PBT together with chemotherapy to shrink the tumour following her surgery earlier in 2024 - her frequent dates with the operating theatre would be a thing of the past. Previously, she did not follow up on the surgical excision of the tumour with chemotherapy and radiation, which she declined as conventional X-ray may severely damage parts of her healthy brain cells.

"My doctor suggested wholebrain radiation," she said. "When I asked about side effects, he said it might affect my mental capacity, make me forgetful, and as it (the tumour) was just behind my right eye, it could also affect my vision. The risk was too high."

In March, she went for PBT treatment, which comprised 33 daily sessions, each lasting a few minutes.

"The prognosis for her is good," said her radiation oncologist, Dr Looi Wen Shen. Before the PBT treatment, the pace of disease progression was picking up and the tumour was growing, so she had surgery to reduce the size of the tumour in January.