No more chemo runs: Patients to get quick one-shot therapy

One-shot cancer treatment with minimal side effects is on the horizon in India. India is preparing to roll out advanced neutron therapy, including Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT), within two to three years."The gamma therapy and proton therapy, the patient has to come 25 to 30 times to the hospital. But with neutron therapy, you will complete the treatment in just one shot," said Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) scientist (H) and Society for Radiation Research (SRR) secretary, Dr Amit Kumar at a BMHRC SSR conference recently in Bhopal.He announced that BNCT could be available to patients within two to three years, with a reactor facility already under development in Mumbai by BARC engineers. India is working closely with Japan, which already runs established BNCT centers, to share research results and clinical experience.Dr Kumar explained that most patients today rely on chemotherapy or gamma radiation. Chemotherapy drugs often fail to reach tumors evenly due to poor blood supply, limiting their effectiveness. Gamma radiation, though effective, requires 25–30 hospital visits. Proton therapy, introduced at ACTREC in Mumbai, has already treated hundreds of patients. At ACTREC, costs are subsidized to around Rs 2-3 lakh compared to Rs 20-30 lakh at private centres.But the next frontier is neutron therapy. Unlike gamma or proton, BNCT can tackle cancers that resist current methods — head and neck tumors, gliomas, melanomas, and brain cancers. The treatment is delivered in a single shot, with far fewer side effects and the lowest damage to healthy tissue among all radiation types. If timelines hold, India's first BNCT reactor facility could begin treating patients in Mumbai within two to three years — a breakthrough that could redefine how the country fights cancer.