AIIMS Rishikesh to have HIPEC machine for Abdominal cancer patients

For better treatment of patients with abdominal cancers, AIIMS Rishikesh plans to soon introduce a hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) machine. Once the machine becomes operational, AIIMS Rishikesh will be the first hospital in Uttarakhand to have this particular cancer-treatment machine. HIPEC machine is used to deliver heated cancer chemotherapy to remove all visible tumors in the abdomen during surgery.

Besides AIIMS Rishikesh, only Delhi has HIPEC treatment facility for cancer patients.

Dr Pankaj Garg, a senior cancer surgeon at AIIMS Rishikesh, said that HIPEC technology is quite different from traditional chemotherapy as it is used to deliver cancer drugs directly to the tumor in abdomen. HIPEC delivers large doses of cancer drugs directly to the tumor cells without having much side effects. When cancer is completely removed from the belly of patients, adding heated chemotherapy increases life expectancy of the patient and reduces chances of cancer occurrences. This is especially beneficial in patients with advanced stages of ovarian and bowel cancer.