MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Oncology Center Corporation (POCC) recently held a seminar-workshop on accelerated partial breast irradiation at the Quezon City Sports Club, drawing a big number of radiation oncologists, surgeons, and anesthesiologists.
POCC medical director Dr. Mary Ann Reyna gave the opening remarks. Dr. Antonio Cabigas, president, International College of Surgeons (ICS) Philippine Section, and Dr. Nicasio Salang, president-ICS Manila Chapter gave their welcome remarks. Engineer Charles Ramota introduced FMEI, the lead provider of cutting-edge radiation therapy equipment in the country.
Invited international guest speakers from the National University Hospital (NUH) in Singapore were Dr. Shaik Ahmad Buhari, a surgeon and Dr. Johann Tang I. Hsuing, a radiation oncologist. They discussed topics on breast conservation surgery and the role of accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) as the rising trend in breast conservation therapy. Issues on criteria of patient selection and techniques to prepare patient for APBI were discussed by Ulrich Krumme, marketing director of Nucletron, Netherlands who led a demonstration.
Breast conservation through brachytherapy, according to Dr. Shaik, is actually giving hope to women who are suffering from breast cancer. While patient selection needs to pass specific criteria before a patient can qualify, still it offers a better option since brachytherapy is a form of radiotherapy which targets only the breast tissue at risk. He also stressed that brachytherapy is already being used on patients since the ’70s in the US and Italy. And now, it is a much- enhanced or improved technology backed by clinical results. He added, “There’s better cosmesis, lesser toxicity, so it is safe, and convenient, too, for the patient since the entire procedure takes only 20 minutes with less than two weeks for recuperation/healing.”
POCC is the first and only stand-alone radiotherapy facility in the country which provides a multi-disciplinary approach to treatment and care of cancer patients and has the latest technology and state-of-the art equipment in radiation therapy that is fully integrated into its patient education and recovery program. Brachytherapy is one of the safer and affordable treatment modalities that the Filipino community can opt for.
POCC is located in Fairview, Quezon City and Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center. For more information, call POCC at 935-8947 to 49 and e-mail info@radiationtherapy.ph.