Galway Advertiser 2004/2004_12_02/GA_0212_E1_012.pdf 

Extracted text

12 N E W S

Galway Advertiser

December 2 2004

2,000 cancer patients to be treated at UCHG
BY MARY O'CONNOR Some 2,000 new cancer patients will be treated annually at UCHG from spring 2005 when the west's first public radiotherapy service opens there. Previously, patients travelled mainly to Dublin for this lifesaving treatment. More than 20,000 outpatient treatments will be carried out each year at the local facility which is located at the rear of the hospital and cost 4.5 million to build and 7.5 million to equip. The department's operating cost for 2005 will be 12 million. Some100 staff will be employed at the west's biggest hospital to provide and support the radiation therapy service for the region. Twenty employees, including a radiotherapy services manager, physicists, senior engineers and radiation therapists, have already been appointed with further staff being recruited. Three sophisticated radiotherapy machines 1.5 million linear accelerators which will treat 120 patients a day have been installed at the hospital. These are located in three separate bunkers with concrete ceilings measuring 10 feet. Patients receiving radiotherapy - they will be in the treatment room for 10 to 15 minutes daily won't feel anything, they will just hear a buzzing noise. Eugene Farrell, the facility's radiation therapy services manager, likens it to having a lung x-ray. The radiotherapy machines, together with the Brachytherapy unit (this treatment uses radiation placed internally in or near a tumour to treat gynaecological, breast and prostate conditions), dosimetry equipment (used to measure radiation doses absorbed or the intensity of radiation sources) and associated diagnostic tools will be fully commissioned this month. Other important equipment, such as a CT scanner and an orthovoltage machine which treats skin cancer have already been installed. Speaking at an open day in the department on Monday, Mr Farrell stated each linear accelerator machine will treat 35 to 40 cancer patients daily. He said UCHG will be the only centre in the west providing brachytherapy. Dr Frank Sullivan, a consultant radiation oncologist at Maryland Cancer Research Centre in the US who will take up his appointment at UCHG early in 2005, says the new radiotherapy centre has "great potential" and will be a "wonderful addition to cancer services" locally. He explained that brachytherapy, which has been around for 100 years but only emerged as one of the pre-eminent technologies in the last 30 years, involves implanting radioactive seeds or pellets under anaesthetic in or near tumours. He describes it as a minimally invasive curative option. "The seeds deliver a very high dose of radiation to the tumour in the prostate for example and very often this can be done as an out-patient treatment in one to five sessions." He said one of the important side-effects of prostate surgery can be the leakage of urine, this almost never happens with brachytherapy. The treatment does not threaten the rectal area either, he said. Referring to the treatment of early stage breast cancer, he said instead of removing the breast, surgeons get rid of the lump and follow this up with radiation therapy. "Now, we can go one step further. We can do a lumpectomy and in five days have the potential in some patients with early breast cancer to be managed with one week's brachytherapy rather than seven weeks external beam therapy. Brachytherapy can be used to lessen treatment time and lessen the toxic effects of radiation. The name of the game is to maximise the dose of radiation to the tumour and minimise its effects on healthy areas." Dr Sullivan says some patients, for example those with brain tumours and children with leukaemia, will continue to travel to Dublin for treatment. These patients would be best managed in large national centres, he said. A spokesperson for the Western Health Board said that best practice recommendations for cancer patients state that 60 per cent of patients diagnosed with a malignancy receive radiation as part of their primary care.

1/2 Price Gel Nails
at
the

Full Set

Beauty Rooms
Offer ends 18th December 04'

at Barry's Hair Studio Shop Street. Tel: 091-566733

LYDON'S
CARPET & FURNITURE
CARPET DEPARTMENT
50% Wool Velvet Pile Carpet only 11.95sq yd 100% Wool Natural Colour Carpets only 11.95sq yd Bedroom Carpets now only 8.50sq yd Kitchen vinyls from 7.95sq yd 100s Carpet/Vinyl Remnants to clear Semi Solid Wood now only 19.95sq yd Laminated flooring now only 8.95sq yd Large selection of Rugs - Runners

LYDON'S CARPET & FURNITURE, MOYCULLEN, CO GALWAY

Tel: Flooring 091 555962 Furniture 091 868992
Fax: 091 555962 Email info@lydons.com Web www.lydons.com

SPECIAL OFFERS

FURNITURE SHOP
5' Solid Table & 6 Chairs now only 499 3 pce suite 3 colours now only 899 3' Pine Spindle Beds now only 89 4' 6" Pine Spindle Beds now only 109 Leatherette 2 seater Couch now only 340 Steel Frame Futons now only 295 6' Beech Robe Built into your home now only 599 Huge range of pictures/prints now available

Give us a visit as we pride ourselves on our range of quality and service
CARPET ~ TIMBER FLOORING ~ VINYL FLOORING - KITCHEN ~ SITTING ROOM ~ BEDROOM FURNITURE