The Karachi Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine (KIRAN) is a cancer hospital in Karachi, Pakistan under the administrative control of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. KIRAN is one of nineteen medical centers in Pakistan providing patients access to diagnostic and treatment facilities either free of charge or at subsidized rates. [1]
KIRAN was initially planned to have state of the art radiotherapy facilities. Subsequently, oncology and chemotherapy facilities were established to provide services at low cost to poor cancer patients in Karachi and rural areas of Sindh and Baluchistan. The hospital currently provides services in clinical oncology, nuclear medicine, radiology, and pharmacy. [2]
Besides conducting research on cancer diagnosis and biopsies, [3] KIRAN organizes annual activities to mark World Cancer Day. [4] [5]
From 2002 to 2006, a study was carried out to evaluate the benefits of scanning prostate cancer patients for a prostate specific antigen. Findings were published in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association. [6]
The costs of treatment at KIRAN are lower than at other nuclear medicine centers in Karachi, such as the AKUH, Baqai Medical University, and Liaquat National Hospital. [7]
Radionuclide therapy uses radioactive substances called radiopharmaceuticals to treat medical conditions, particularly cancer. These are introduced into the body by various means and localise to specific locations, organs or tissues depending on their properties and administration routes. This includes anything from a simple compound such as sodium iodide that locates to the thyroid via trapping the iodide ion, to complex biopharmaceuticals such as recombinant antibodies which are attached to radionuclides and seek out specific antigens on cell surfaces.
Brachytherapy is a form of radiation therapy where a sealed radiation source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment. Brachy is Greek for short. Brachytherapy is commonly used as an effective treatment for cervical, prostate, breast, esophageal and skin cancer and can also be used to treat tumours in many other body sites. Treatment results have demonstrated that the cancer-cure rates of brachytherapy are either comparable to surgery and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) or are improved when used in combination with these techniques. Brachytherapy can be used alone or in combination with other therapies such as surgery, EBRT and chemotherapy.
In medicine, proton therapy, or proton radiotherapy, is a type of particle therapy that uses a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, most often to treat cancer. The chief advantage of proton therapy over other types of external beam radiotherapy is that the dose of protons is deposited over a narrow range of depth; hence in minimal entry, exit, or scattered radiation dose to healthy nearby tissues.
The Tata Memorial Hospital is situated in Parel, Mumbai, in India. Also popularly known as TMH. It is one of the 62 specialist cancer treatment and research centres in India. It is closely associated with the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC). The centre is the national comprehensive cancer centre for the prevention, treatment, education and research in cancer, and is recognised as one of the leading cancer centres in this part of the world. It is an autonomous body funded and controlled by Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India which also oversees the administration of the institute since 1962.
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) is a federally funded independent governmental agency, concerned with research and development of nuclear power, promotion of nuclear science, energy conservation and the peaceful usage of nuclear technology.
The National Oncologic Institute or ION is a specialized hospital for cancer treatment, located in Panama City, Panama. Between August 2000 and March 2001, patients receiving radiation treatment for prostate cancer and cancer of the cervix received lethal doses of radiation, resulting in eight fatalities.
The Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) at Thiruvananthapuram is a cancer care hospital and research centre. RCC was established in 1981 by the Government of Kerala and the Government of India. It is located in the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College campus in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of the state of Kerala. It was established as an expansion of the Radiation Therapy / Radiotherapy department of Medical College Trivandrum. It is a tertiary care center for the managements of all types of cancers. The clinics are mainly on Haematology, Lymphoreticular, soft tissue, bone, head and neck, breast, CNS, gynaecological, urinary, chest, gastro, paediatric oncology and thyroid.
Fast neutron therapy utilizes high energy neutrons typically between 50 and 70 MeV to treat cancer. Most fast neutron therapy beams are produced by reactors, cyclotrons (d+Be) and linear accelerators. Neutron therapy is currently available in Germany, Russia, South Africa and the United States. In the United States, one treatment center is operational, in Seattle, Washington. The Seattle center uses a cyclotron which produces a proton beam impinging upon a beryllium target.
In radiotherapy, radiation treatment planning (RTP) is the process in which a team consisting of radiation oncologists, radiation therapist, medical physicists and medical dosimetrists plan the appropriate external beam radiotherapy or internal brachytherapy treatment technique for a patient with cancer.
Cobalt therapy is the medical use of gamma rays from the radioisotope cobalt-60 to treat conditions such as cancer. Beginning in the 1950s, cobalt-60 was widely used in external beam radiotherapy (teletherapy) machines, which produced a beam of gamma rays which was directed into the patient's body to kill tumor tissue. Because these "cobalt machines" were expensive and required specialist support, they were often housed in cobalt units. Cobalt therapy was a revolutionary advance in radiotherapy in the post-World War II period but is now being replaced by other technologies such as linear accelerators.
Particle therapy is a form of external beam radiotherapy using beams of energetic neutrons, protons, or other heavier positive ions for cancer treatment. The most common type of particle therapy as of August 2021 is proton therapy.
The Institute of Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy is located inside premises of Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The facility is one of 18 cancer hospitals operated by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission or PAEC. The PAEC has made a priority to apply nuclear technology in order to improve Pakistan's health sector. INOR patients receive state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment either free of charge or at subsidized rates and is also involved in the "National Cancer Awareness & Prevention Program"
The history of pursuing nuclear medicine goes back to 1956, when the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) was established under the executive order of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. The PAEC, the scientific body who is responsible for establishing the nuclear power plants in the country, has sat up a Nuclear Medicines laboratory. The PAEC also sat up the nuclear medicines lab and facilities throughout the country to fight against Cancer. Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission had provided the facilities of diagnosis and treatment of cancer and allied diseases to the patients from all over the country employing Nuclear Techniques at its Medical Centers. PAEC also sponsored the research program in the field of radiochemistry and biochemistry. PAEC also sat up the research institutes all over the country, some of them are below:
Docrates Cancer Center is the first and currently the only private hospital in the Nordic countries that comprehensively specialises in cancer treatment. It operates in Helsinki, Finland. It characterises its operations as those complementing the public sector. Docrates Oy was established in 2006 and the hospital started its operations at the premises of Eira Hospital in autumn 2007. It moved to its own premises in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki, in 2009, where it has hospital rights. There is a ward and Health and Recovery Center located at Docrates Cancer Center. Among other things, diagnostics, pharmacotherapy, radiation therapy and isotopic treatments are carried out at the hospital. Cancer surgeries are performed in partner hospitals. Docrates also participates in clinical trials and the testing and development of new treatments.
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is an NHS Foundation Trust, which specialises in the treatment of cancer. The centre is one of several specialist hospitals located within Merseyside; alongside Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool Women's Hospital, and the Walton Centre.
The Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine is located at Khyber Medical College in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The facility is one of 18 cancer hospitals operated by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission or PAEC. The PAEC has made a priority to apply nuclear technology in order to improve Pakistan's health sector. IRNUM patients receive state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment either free of charge or at subsidized rates and is also involved in the "National Cancer Awareness & Prevention Program"
Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI) is the 7th Cancer hospital and research centre; established by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in 1983 at Islamabad, adjacent to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) to caterer Patients from Islamabad and adjoining areas. NORI is the first institute which has been recognized by College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan (CPSP) for training of Fellows of College of Physicians and Surgeons (FCPS) in Nuclear Medicine and radiotherapy. Various research projects sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), are underway in the NORI Cancer Hospital. The hospital is providing treatment facilities to about 40,000 patients from Islamabad, Hazara, Jhelum, Sargodha, Azad Kashmir, etc.
The Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (BMCHRC) is located in Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, Bajaj Nagar, Jaipur, Rajasthan. It is also popularly known as BMCHRC. The hospital is NABH and NABL accredited super speciality cancer treatment centre. The hospital is following international protocol for cancer treatment managed by K.G. Kothari Memorial Trust. The centre is committed to providing comprehensive care along with prevention and research in cancer.