Chennai's Stanley Hospital gets advanced cancer treatment equipment for faster, better diagnosis

CHENNAI: The radiotherapy department of the Stanley Government Medical College Hospital has got advanced cancer treatment equipment for faster and more accurate diagnosis. It will be used for treatment soon.

Doctors at the hospital said the machine offers Advanced Computerized Cobalt Tele-therapy. "This is the first such machine to come to a TN government hospital," a senior doctor at the hospital said.

"The radiation will be much more accurate in this tele-therapy machine than the routine radiotherapy machines. The treatment time is also much less," said a senior doctor with the hospital.

The doctor said that the machine uses a radioactive form of cobalt for radiation which is efficient in detecting deeply present tumour and cancer cells.

"Normally, chemotherapy is prescribed for patients in early stages of cancer where the cancer cells are killed using drugs, while linear accelerators (LINACS) are used for external radiation therapy. The cobalt operated machines have a powerful beam and much more focused diagnosis," added the doctor.

LINACS are generally used for treating cancer across the globe. They use high energy X-rays or electrons to identify a tumour's shape and destroy cancer cells but have more maintenance expenditure and repairs compared to the cobalt tele-therapy machines.

According to a study published in the Journal of Medical Physics, the cobalt tele-therapy machines have an edge over the linear accelerators because of lower maintenance costs, fewer infrastructure requirements, low power demands and simple quality assurance of the beam parameters.

The study also said that the cobalt tele-therapy machines need less manpower than the LINACS which makes them easier to use.

Fifteen such machines will be coming soon to other government hospitals in the state, an official with the health department said.

At the Stanley Hospital, close to 1700 patients are treated for cancer every year.