AIIMS, Bathinda launches stereotactic radiosurgery

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bathinda, has rolled out stereotactic radiosurgery, a highly affordable and cutting-edge facility to treat cancer patients.\

Experts at the central institute said on Friday that the completely non-incision and painless intervention uses 3D imaging to target doses of radiation to the affected area with minimal impact on the surrounding healthy tissue.

The Bathinda-based healthcare centre is the only public sector hospital offering treatment through stereotactic radiosurgery.

Head of the radiation oncology department Dr Anil Kumar Goel said the institute has started treatment on two patients to control tumours in the liver and pituitary gland.

He said radiosurgery can treat multi-organ tumours at highly affordable prices and under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, it is available for free.

The primary criterion to apply the method is that the tumour has to be of size 5 cm or less, added Goel.

“Treatment under this technology is possible in the outpatient department (OPD) as a patient does not require hospitalisation or anaesthesia. Even though it is called surgery, radiosurgery does not involve actual surgery. Instead, very focused beams of x-rays are used to treat cancerous tissues without a surgical incision or opening,” said Goel, who has been trained in this technique at Michigan University Cancer Hospital, USA, and Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.

Additional professor of oncology at AIIMS, Sapna Marcus Bhatty said that radiation therapy, also known as radiotherapy, is a common treatment for cancer, but it takes up to 25 or 30 days or sittings.

“However, the radiosurgery treatment can last from a few minutes to a few hours in the OPD, depending on the location and type of area being treated. While at other institutes, a patient will have to pay ₹6-10 lakh for radiosurgery whereas the treatment cost at the central institute is about ₹15,000. A multi-disciplinary team of doctors work for this type of treatment,” she added.

Cancer care grid in offing
AIIMS Bathinda executive director Dr DK Singh said the institute is working to establish a grid of hospitals, including Punjab government’s Advanced Cancer Institute in Bathinda, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, Tata Memorial Hospitals in Sangrur and Mullanpur Garibdas for better care of cancer patients.

“Coordination among these government-supported hospitals will ensure that treatment is handled on a case-to-case basis for the convenience of patients. AIIMS is ready to introduce a highly sophisticated brachytherapy that will provide focused and shorter treatment options to cancer patients,” said the director. Hindustan Times