Patients at the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology can now avail better treatment with the Digital Subtraction Angiogram - Cath Lab Suit being added to the existing facilities. The Rs 1.2 crore suit donated by Sri Chandamandal Pukhraj Bothra Trust was inaugurated at the institute on Saturday.
The technology would best benefit patients suffering from last stages of cancer. Dr Madhu S D, Interventional Radiologist, Kidwai, said that this can help treat tumours which are at locations that can neither be surgically operated nor treated with chemotherapy.
Besides helping doctors diagnose the precise location of tumours, it also assists in delivering the drug to a specified location. “In children with Retinoblastoma, surgery would be risky. By giving systemic chemotherapy, (where drugs travel all over the body through blood), the child is at risk of toxicity and other side effects such as hair loss. All this could be minimised with the device delivering drugs to a specified location,” Dr Madhu explained. Several other tumours which are in inoperable locations such as lower back, can be treated with this.
At private hospitals, the procedure would cost Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh. At Kidwai, it wil be made available at Rs 15,000. This would also be covered under the state government’s health schemes for the poor.
Speaking about increasing cases of cancer, Dr K B Lingegowda, director, Kidwai Institute said the Institute sees at least 18,000 new cases annually and at least 2.5 lakh to three lakh patients come for follow-up.
The institute has received Rs 120 crore from the Union government for being upgraded as the State Cancer Institute. Under this, more Linear Accelerators are being added. A Rs 70-lakh dormitory housing 300 patients and funded by Infosys Foundation and renovation of an auditorium at Rs 60 lakh are other plans for the institute.
Published 24 September 2016, 20:28 IST