Soon at AIIMS-Jhajjar, cost-effective radiation therapy to treat cancer
“These drugs are very costly in the private sector. At NCI, the cost will reduce to 1/4th,” the official said.
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An official said while the private sector has the facility, the NCI facility will help underprivileged patients to get treatment at a low cost. (File Photo)
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) at AIIMS-Jhajjar is set to launch a nuclear medicine therapy ward, with 21 beds, where various radioisotope therapies will be performed. It is slated to be one among the biggest such facilities in India.
The therapy involves using radioisotopes to destroy cancer cells while minimising damage to neighboring healthy cells. It can be used to treat several different kinds of cancer of the thyroid, prostate, neuroendocrine, bile duct, liver, bone metastases, and neuroblastoma.
An official said while the private sector has the facility, the NCI facility will help underprivileged patients to get treatment at a low cost.
Currently, there are a total of 8-9 radiopharmaceuticals in the Indian market. The cost of the therapy varies from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh per session along with hospital charges. “These drugs are very costly in the private sector. At NCI, the cost will reduce to 1/4th,” the official said.
Associate Professor in the Nuclear Medicine department, Dr Abhinav Singhal, said this treatment is very difficult to administer as it requires a specialised ward. “As we are administering radiation to patients via the IV route, several structural requirements need to be fulfilled to get a licence from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board,” he said.
“It’s not possible to administer radioactive drugs in any other general hospital… and treatment options are very limited. Radioisotope therapy is now a cornerstone for management of diseases like neuro-endocrine cancer, that is why it is important,” he added.
According to Dr Alok Thakkar, Professor of Otolaryngology & Head Neck Surgery, and Head of the National Cancer Institute at AIIMS-Jhajjar, this is a kind of focused therapy where patients are required to be kept in special wards isolated from others, including pregnant women and children, as well as their families for a short period as radioactivity in a patient can be harmful.
He added that as part of the process, radioactive substances are attached to targeted cancer cells. This therapy has been well established to treat thyroid cancer and has been used for ages; it is majorly responsible for why thyroid cancer is less severe than other cancers.
He said this therapy is showing a lot of promise for other cancers too. “If we have a target, we can attach this radioactive material into the blood to go to attack the target… It is now showing a lot of promise for prostate cancer, paraganglioma, and adenoid cystic cancer,” he added.
An official said the facility will be launched after it is surveyed by the AERB. The board is responsible for developing safety policies in nuclear, radiological and industrial areas and ensuring safety codes, guides and standards for siting, designing, constructing, commissioning, operating and decommissioning different types of nuclear and radiation facilities.
The official added that they are in the process of acquiring one more PET scan machine.
In Mumbai, the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research, and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) at Kharghar is set to launch the world’s largest therapeutic nuclear facility, with 41 beds, within the next 2-3 months. Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai currently has five hot beds for radiation isotope treatment.
How does it work?
-Before treatment, patients undergo a PET scan to locate the tumour
-An intravenous liquid infusion of the radioisotope therapy is given to the patient. This takes about 45 minutes
-Patients will have to be isolated for a short period as radioactivity can be harmful to their families and other patients
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