The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : New technique for treating lung cancer

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

New technique for treating lung cancer

Staff Reporter

Ray of hope: New radiation equipment for treating lung cancer at Yashoda Hospital in Hyderabad.

HYDERABAD: Cancer surgeons of Yashoda Hospitals on Wednesday informed that they have used a new technique of radiotherapy to treat patients suffering from lung cancer.

The new treatment known as stereotactic radiosurgery, unlike conventional radiation techniques, involves delivering full dose of radiation in just three to five sittings of ten minutes each, doctors said.

According to surgeons, this mode of treatment will help patients recover quickly when compared to traditional radiation therapies, which usually require 25 to 35 sessions of 30 minutes and spread over three to four weeks.

“Shorter treatment time means the patient need not be hospitalised. Five to six weeks of patient's treatment can now be completed in ten days and it won't cost more than Rs. 75, 000,” Dr. G. S. Rao, Managing Director, Yashoda Hospitals, told media persons on Wednesday.

The hospital's doctors said that recent surveys across the world have shown that lung cancer responds favourably to radiosurgery. “The RapidArc helps to accurately deliver radiation more to the tumour and less to the surrounding tissue and helps patients recover quickly.

We have successfully treated 500 cancer patients with this technology,” Dr. Rao said.

Balaram Murthy, 65, the first patient who underwent stereotactic radiosurgery at Yashoda Hospitals said that before the radiosurgery, he had no hope of surviving lung cancer.

“I have multiple blocks in my heart vessels and this made me unfit for surgery. Thanks to this therapy, the doctors have removed the cancerous tumour in my lungs,” he said.

The hospital authorities said that the same technology has been used to treat a few patients suffering from pancreatic, liver and gall bladder cancers. Very shortly, RapidArc machines will be installed at Secunderabad and Malakpet branches of Yashoda Hospitals.

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