Nghe An Oncology Hospital: Outstanding milestones in cancer management, prevention, control and treatment

Urgent birth

Cancer is a major burden in countries around the world, especially in poor countries and developing countries such as Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. According to Globocan 2022, in Vietnam there are about 180,480 new cases each year, of which about 120,184 cases die. In Nghe An, according to statistics from the Department of Health since 2009, on average 4,000 - 5,500 people get cancer each year (in 2007: 4130, in 2008: 5577, in 2009: 5592). Of which, there are 1,761 deaths due to various types of cancer (cancer death survey data in 2006 in Nghe An by Dr. Le Tran Ngoan - Hanoi Medical University). The cancer situation in Nghe An is on the rise, it is predicted that by the end of the 21st century, there will be about 7,000 people suffering from various types of cancer each year. Most cancers are detected at a late stage, making treatment difficult and reducing the quality of life of the patient.

Established under Decision No. 3826/QD-UBND dated August 27, 2010 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province and officially put into operation on August 8, 2011, Nghe An Oncology Hospital is responsible for examination, detection, screening, treatment and management of cancer in Nghe An province and the North Central region.

The establishment of Nghe An Oncology Hospital has marked an important turning point, contributing to improving the quality of health care for the people of Nghe An and neighboring provinces, especially for those with cancer diseases. At the same time, it is also a solution to reduce overload for the Central Oncology Hospital.

According to comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council: "Nghe An is located in the Central Highlands region, it is estimated that every year there are more than 6,000 new cancer cases, causing an economic and social burden for the province. In this situation, investing in the construction and expansion of Nghe An Oncology Hospital is an urgent issue to reduce the number of new cancer cases".

After a 15-year journey, laying the foundation for the cancer industry in Nghe An province and neighboring areas, from the early days of establishment lacking in all aspects of infrastructure, medical equipment and medical examination and treatment human resources, up to now, Nghe An Oncology Hospital has a full system of modern facilities and diagnostic equipment, along with a team of experienced doctors. Completing a closed process from diagnosis to cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy), on par with specialized hospitals nationwide, meeting the increasing needs of medical examination and treatment of the people.

Dr. Pham Vinh Hung - Deputy Director of the Hospital, said: "Nghe An Oncology Hospital has completed a multi-modal treatment system in cancer including: Cancer surgery, Internal medicine oncology, radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, palliative care, interventional radiology for cancer diagnosis and treatment, immunohistochemistry testing, cancer gene mutation testing...".

Notable milestones

In fact, in many cases, the patient is almost always late in discovering and being diagnosed with cancer. When the cancer is discovered and diagnosed clearly and specifically, the patient is often in a late stage; the tumor has developed a condition of swollen regional lymph nodes and metastasized elsewhere. Therefore, early detection and diagnosis of cancer has a decisive influence on the attitude of intervention, treatment results and prognosis; meaning that early diagnosis of cancer will help the treatment have high results.

As a member of the national cancer prevention network and a member of the Vietnam Cancer Association, Nghe An Oncology Hospital has strategies and orientations in cancer prevention and control in the North Central region.

Realizing that Nghe An and neighboring areas have many remote, poor districts and communes, economic difficulties, and difficult terrain. Most people here are still not aware and understand about the increasing cancer disease that can occur at any age.

The hospital has had programs and communication campaigns to promote cancer prevention and control. Working groups have been established to go to remote areas without access to modern medical services to support free screening, examination, and consultation. Up to now, the hospital has organized free examinations for more than 26,830 people in the districts of Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Do Luong, Ky Son, Thanh Chuong, Nghia Dan, Yen Thanh, Quy Hop... to encourage and call on people to raise awareness and proactively prevent this dangerous disease.

The hospital has also regularly organized nearly 200 conferences, seminars, and weekly scientific activities to update and improve the professional skills of doctors and medical staff. At the same time, it has focused on developing training activities, scientific research, international cooperation, implementing more than 500 topics, projects, and initiatives; 21 awards for provincial-level scientific and technological research and innovation projects; coordinated the implementation of nearly 10 topics, 133 national-level scientific articles, and many articles published in international scientific journals.

Transfer of "Special" techniques specialized in Oncology - Nuclear Medicine according to the needs of specialized oncology hospitals including: Radiation therapy with accelerators, radiation therapy with dose-modulated accelerators, radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy, continuous chemotherapy (12-24 hours) by machine, targeted treatment in cancer, simulation and planning for external radiotherapy, treatment of thyroid cancer with 131I.

Building nearly 50 continuous training programs in oncology, surgery, anesthesia, resuscitation, and pathology for district-level hospitals in Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and Thanh Hoa.

In addition, Nghe An Oncology Hospital is also a practice facility for training CKI doctors specializing in cancer, a post-graduate practice training facility of Hanoi Medical University. The hospital has also coordinated with a team of experts from IARC, NCC Japan, Vital Strategies, National Cancer Institute, K Hospital to survey the situation to move towards building a population cancer registration unit in the Central region.

On April 28, 2021, Nghe An Oncology Hospital was recognized by the People's Committee of Nghe An province as meeting the standards of a Grade I hospital in Decision No. 1158/QD-UBND.

On February 7, 2024, the Department of Science, Technology and Training of the Ministry of Health issued Decision No. 18/QD-K2DT on granting the certificate of "Good Clinical Practice (GCP)" to Nghe An Oncology Hospital, marking a new development step in the research and application of advanced treatment methods at the Hospital and becoming the first specialized medical facility in the province to be granted this certificate. Up to now, Nghe An Oncology Hospital is in the process of implementing 12 multinational, multi-center clinical studies, providing access to the most advanced immunotherapy and targeted therapy for cancer patients in Nghe An province in general and the North Central region in particular.

October 18, 2024,Dr.Duong Huy Luong - Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management announced Decision No. 2223/QD-BYT dated July 29, 2024 signed by Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan, on recognizing and assigning the task of being the final line of technical expertise in medical examination and treatment in the North Central region to Nghe An Oncology Hospital in the Oncology department. From now on, Nghe An Oncology Hospital is officially a training facility, transferring, coordinating, and providing technical expertise to medical examination and treatment facilities in the region and implementing the assigned tasks and directions of the Ministry of Health.

On November 21, 2024, Nghe An Department of Health issued Decision No. 1627/QD-SYT officially upgrading the technical expertise of Nghe An Oncology Hospital to the specialized level, effective from January 1, 2025. This is a new content included in the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment No. 15/2023/QH15 dated January 9, 2023 and Decree No. 96/2023/ND-CP dated December 30, 2023 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment. Accordingly, the technical expertise of the hospital will not depend on the administrative level, but will be based entirely on the hospital's professional capacity in the examination and treatment of cancer.

Nghe An Oncology Hospital has been recognized by the People's Committee of Nghe An province as a Grade I hospital in Decision No. 1158/QD-UBND.	Nghe An Oncology Hospital was recognized by Nghe An Department of Health for its specialized technical expertise in Decision No. 1627/QD-SYT.
Mr. Nguyen Tri Thuc - Deputy Minister of Health awarded the decision to recognize and assign the task of being the final line of technical expertise in medical examination and treatment in the North Central region to Nghe An Oncology Hospital.	The Department of Science, Technology and Training of the Ministry of Health has issued Decision No. 18/QD-K2DT on granting the certificate of "Good Clinical Practice (GCP)" to Nghe An Oncology Hospital.

With its achievements in medical examination and treatment, Nghe An Oncology Hospital has been honored to receive many Certificates of Merit, Certificates of Merit, and noble titles from central and local departments and branches: Excellent Labor Collective in the years: 2011, 2014, 2018, 2020, 2022; Certificate of Merit from the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee in 2019; Provincial Emulation Flag in 2021; Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister awarded to the hospital in 2020 (on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its establishment); Certificate of Merit from the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee in the work of preventing and fighting the Covid-19 epidemic in 2021.

High-tech and new technology development

In recent years, medical facilities in Vietnam in general and Nghe An Oncology Hospital in particular have applied many modern diagnostic and treatment techniques. Surgical and radiotherapy methods not only aim at curing the disease, but also aim at the quality of life and aesthetic factors of the patient. Cancer patients have been able to access new chemotherapy and targeted drugs and recently immunotherapy and Gene therapy drugs right in Nghe An.

The application and development of new, high technology in examination, diagnosis and treatment has partly proven that "Cancer is not incurable", 1/3 of cancers can be prevented, 1/3 can be cured if diagnosed early, along with complementary care will increase the quality of life for the remaining 1/3 of cancer patients. In developed countries, people have cured 70% of cancers thanks to the development of modern medicine.

Over the years, Nghe An Oncology Hospital has constantly innovated and pioneered in applying modern surgical and treatment methods, bringing high efficiency to patients.

Regarding Surgery, the hospital has deployed many advanced techniques, helping to improve the quality of treatment and minimize complications. Typical examples include the technique of Mammography-guided biopsy of non-palpable breast tumors using a vacuum device; Laparoscopic surgery to remove the entire breast on both sides due to cancer and immediate breast reconstruction with implants. In addition, the hospital also applies Laparoscopic radical hysterectomy using the QM method without the need for a uterine lift, helping to effectively treat early-stage cervical cancer. In particular, the hospital has successfully deployed Laparoscopic Surgery (PTNS) and PTNS one-hole lung lobectomy with lymph node dissection in the treatment of lung cancer, PTNS and PTNS one-hole mediastinal tumor resection to treat tumors in the mediastinal region; PTNS esophagectomy + 3-zone lymph node dissection with retrosternal esophageal reconstruction; PTNS complete pancreatoduodenal resection plus lymph node dissection in the treatment of cancer in the head of the pancreas and duodenum; Right hepatectomy, left hepatectomy, segmental hepatectomy in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

These techniques are difficult and complex surgical techniques, on par with those of central hospitals and approaching those of countries with developed healthcare systems in the world. Not only do they help patients recover faster, reduce pain, and reduce hospital stays, but they also bring aesthetic value as well as economic savings to patients and their families.

Regarding Internal Medicine, the hospital promotes targeted treatment methods (using drugs to destroy only cancer cells without affecting healthy cells) such as EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors of generation I, II, III or applying Crizotinib, Ceritinib for patients with non-small cell lung cancer with ALK rearrangement mutation. At the same time, many advanced immunotherapy regimens with drugs such as Atezolizumab, Durvalumab, Nivolumab have also been deployed, bringing new hope to patients with small cell lung cancer.

Regarding radiotherapy, the hospital continues to develop intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) - a key method to help improve treatment effectiveness, especially in cases of hypopharyngeal cancer and late-stage nasopharyngeal cancer. Along with that, 3D radiotherapy (3D-CRT), bone scintigraphy, thyroid scintigraphy, sentinel lymph node scintigraphy and whole-body scintigraphy are also maintained and developed, contributing to improving the quality of diagnosis and treatment.

Regarding Paraclinical, the hospital constantly improves modern testing systems such as Complete Peripheral Blood Cell Analysis using a fully automated system, β2 Microglobulin Quantification and immunological tests to evaluate cancer markers, providing optimal support for doctors in diagnosing and monitoring diseases.

Regarding intervention techniques, the hospital has applied many advanced methods such as treating lung tumors, liver tumors, and thyroid tumors with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) under ultrasound guidance; breast tumor biopsy with vacuum suction device under breast CT guidance (Tomography); breast CT and MRI techniques. These advances help improve treatment effectiveness, providing patients with better recovery opportunities.

In particular, the hospital has successfully deployed 33 SPECT/CT techniques on the most modern new machine system in the North Central region according to Decision No. 69/QD-SYT dated January 11, 2024 of the Nghe An Department of Health. Through SPECT images, doctors can detect and accurately assess very small lesions, metastases, and abnormal changes in the patient's body that were previously difficult to observe with other conventional techniques, thereby comprehensively assessing the disease and providing the optimal treatment regimen.

Advanced techniques and new techniques in the field of Surgery are developed. Photo: Diep Phan	Targeted therapy has brought new hope to patients. Photo: CSCC
Hospital applies modern testing system in paraclinical field. Photo: Diep Phan	The first modern accelerator radiotherapy system in the North Central region. Photo: CSCC

With the results exceeding the target of disbursement of public investment capital assigned by the People's Committee of Nghe An province in 2024 in construction work, Nghe An Oncology Hospital aims to continue to further improve service quality, expand scale, separate some departments/rooms and develop new specialties. It is expected that on the occasion of the Vietnamese Doctors' Day on February 27 this year, the Nghe An Oncology Hospital Project Phase 2 with spacious infrastructure will be inaugurated and put into use at Km456, Nghi Lien commune, Vinh city, Nghe An. Bringing 02 medical examination and treatment locations into 01 to synchronize the closed process from diagnosis to cancer treatment according to the model of "smart" hospital, "hotel" hospital.

In addition, we will invest in more modern machinery and equipment to become a key medical project, affirming our pioneering position in the field of cancer treatment, bringing trust and hope to hundreds of thousands of patients each year.

“With the task of cancer prevention, screening, examination and treatment assigned by Nghe An province, Nghe An Oncology Hospital needs to do better in its role as a member of the national cancer prevention network. Take the lead in building a team of specialized human resources, proactively bid for the purchase of necessary equipment to serve patients. Gradually become a nuclear cancer hospital in the country, contributing to building Nghe An province into a specialized medical center in the North Central region”, Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council gave a directive speech.

With that meaning, this year, Nghe An Oncology Hospital will invest in more modern machinery and equipment, devoting all resources to focus on investing in purchasing specialized medical equipment according to the policy approved by the People's Council of Nghe An province, including: 01 PET/CT system; 01 Cyclotron system; 01 CT Scanner system with 64-128 slices/rotation, and 01 positive pressure system; renovating and upgrading the area for producing radioactive isotopes F-18 FDG; the area for installing PET/CT systems and Cyclotron systems with an area of ​​about 890 m2 to serve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer diseases to bring benefits and convenience to patients. People will not have to travel long distances to central medical facilities in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City but can enjoy these technical services right in Nghe An. Closing these processes also contributes to making Nghe An Oncology Hospital the leading technical center in cancer treatment in the North Central region, and contributes to developing the work of caring for, protecting and improving people's health, and social security work of the province.