Mangalore: First in city - Cancer patient treated with electron therapy at AJ Hospital
Pics: Brijesh Garodi
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (BG)
Mangalore, Jul 9: For the first time in Mangalore, AJ Hospital and Research Centre has successfully carried out electron therapy and gold seed implant for a cancer patient, said Dr Prashanth Marla, medical director, AJHRC, addressing a press meet here on Tuesday, July 9.
Explaining the procedure of this therapy, Dr Kamalaksh K Shenoy, radiation oncology surgeon said that a 78-year-old lady was suffering from skin cancer (basel cell carcinoma) on her neck from nearly a year.
"Her disease was worsening day by day. The lesion on the skin was almost 3X3 cm long when she first visited AJ Hospital. She was then treated with 8 MeV electron treatment on May 27 this year," he said.
"Now the treatment has been completely successful and the patient is recovering and responding well to radiation therapy without any side effects," he added.
"The skin cancer is a superficial tumour and can be treated with operation. However, operation leaves odd marks that tend to remain on the skin. The tumour can be better treated with the help of electrons that are released from high-end linear exhilarator. These electrons transmit radiations to the affected area, which help in curing the cancer without affecting the surrounding areas. This treatment is most suitable for skin-related cancers," Dr Shenoy said.
A 62-year-old patient who was suffering from prostate cancer had undergone androgen depravation treatment for 4 months. He was taken up for the implantation of the gold seed markers and a week later intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) was carried out. He is presently undergoing radiation daily with image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) by tracking these gold seeds. The patient is responding to radiation well and the tracking is simple and very efficient, he said.
In this technique, gold seed marker is implanted into the prostate gland using ultrasound guidance. These marker seeds help in daily movement tracking of the prostate gland which is very important while treating prostate with radiation therapy. Prostate cancer is treated with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) wherein both precision and accuracy is very important. In order to aim the treatment accurately and precisely to the prostate gland, the gland has to be localized every day. These marker seeds are tracked every day before the treatment with IMRT.
AJ Cancer Institute has implemented gold seed implant based image guided radiation therapy for the first time in Mangalore. This is useful in cancer of prostate which is locally advanced and non metastatic (which means that the cancer of prostate is limited to the prostate and surrounding structures and does not spread beyond that).
Shivaprasad Shetty and Bhaskar Arasa were also present at the press meet.