For approximately USD 7 million, the Oncology Center in Gliwice will purchase the latest generation equipment for the treatment of brain tumors, multiple myeloma and multiple bone metastases. It will be the first device of this class in Central Europe.
We have already made a decision to buy this equipment, we are on the eve of the related procedures. The exact date depends on the tender and the funds that we are to receive from the ministry. I hope it will happen this year – the director of the Oncology Center – Instytut im. Maria Skłodowskiej-Curie in Gliwice, prof. Bogusław Maciejewski.
It is used in radiotherapy, the so-called A new type of linear accelerator, which, after appropriate programming, precisely directs beams of rays into cancer cells. Similar devices are already in use, but they are designed specifically for the treatment of brain tumors, multiple bone metastases and multiple myeloma.
Normally the linear accelerator is the size of a small minibus – this one is the size of a suitcase. The programmed one moves around the lying patient, having as many as 360 grip points. This is a complete revolution when it comes to radiation treatment, as well as a form of radiosurgery – instead of a scalpel, pencil beams of radiation are used, which hit the tumor from different points and eliminate it – explained Prof. Maciejewski.
The great advantage of the device is the precision of the radiation that hits the tumor with great accuracy, without going beyond its area and without damaging the healthy tissues around it. It is like turning on a light bulb, gaining light only where it is located, when the whole room remains dark – explained the professor.
Doctors from Gliwice observed the operation of this device in Western Europe, concluding that it would also be useful in Poland. Prof. Maciejewski stated that the accelerators currently used in Gliwice are also of high quality – they are precise enough that they even adapt to the patient’s breathing rhythm, as a result of which, for example, a tumor in the lungs changes its position.
We have the latest generation of 10 accelerators that can do it all. The advantage of the new device is that it is specially designed for brain tumors, multiple myeloma and multiple metastases, said Prof. Maciejewski.
So far, in patients with multiple metastases, radiation has been complicated and required frequent changes of the patient’s position. Thanks to the new apparatus, the so-called a cybernetic knife will find neoplastic outbreaks on the basis of imaging programming on magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography. The computer will set the location of the head itself to precisely hit the fire.
There can be no doctor’s error here, because he does not interfere with it anymore – everything is done by the computer system. It’s like in + Star Wars + – the beam or the head is aimed at the target with an accuracy of a millimeter – assured the oncologist.
Prof. Maciejewski reminded that other modern methods of treating brain tumors are also used in Gliwice. In cooperation with the center in Sosnowiec, there are, among others, a network of stereotaxic radioneurosurgery, based on advanced imaging diagnostics, i.e. a fusion of magnetic resonance images and computed tomography.
Patients are diagnosed at our institute, obtaining an image of not only the tumor site, but also the path of vital functions in the brain: speech, hearing, and movement. The patient is taken to the operating table, where the surgeon has a special neuronavigation system – he sees this image in one eyepiece and the operating field in the other. Superimposes one image on top of another and performs the operation. This image automatically, at the same time, returns to the institute for treatment planning, radiotherapy – explained Prof. Maciejewski.
As a result, radiotherapy specialists know exactly where to focus the beam of radiation to irradiate a questionable spot. As a result, 50 percent. the sick who have come so far lying on the bed, paralyzed, speechless, deaf, non-eater come on their own. This is not yet a revolution in the cure rate of brain tumors, but certainly a revolution in terms of the quality of life of these patients – assessed the professor.
The Gliwice Cancer Center is one of the leading highly specialized clinical and scientific centers in Poland. Performs here include complicated reconstructive procedures (e.g. breasts) after surgeries. A team of surgeons specializing in microvascular reconstruction can, among others, reconstruct a large part of the patient’s face – recreate bone structures, introduce dental implants, etc. The tracheal reconstruction carried out in Gliwice was one of the first in the world (PAP)